Hyundai Ioniq 3: “We wanted to do something different, but for a logical reason”

Resplendent in a bright shade of red and surrounded by engaged onlookers, both car and designer made a splash at Hyundai’s labyrinth-like exhibit at Milan Design Week 2026. Indeed, design VP Simon Loasby was on brand with a suit that matched the latest addition to the line-up: the ‘aero hatch’ Ioniq 3.

The production car on show in Milan was revealed a few months after the initial tease of the Concept 3 in Munich, where CDN sat down with both Loasby and Hyundai Europe CEO, Xavier Martinet. Here, we learned how the vision of a compact, highly-aerodynamic hatchback came about and had seemingly been waved through by senior management thanks to a compelling visual argument (the product) and underlying narrative (the appetite for small cars in Europe).

The car itself is a compact hatchback with a smoothed front end, flush bodysides and a distinctive ducktail spoiler at the rear. The roofline is not quite in fastback territory, but it does rake back slightly into the boot lid. Pixel lighting and thin individual lamps feel very 'Hyundai' and — in N-Line trim at least — there are sporty air diffusers front and rear. All of this fits well with the idea of what an aero hatch might be, and the figures certainly back that up with a Cd of just 0.263. A Porsche Taycan is around 0.22 for comparison.

In the metal, we must admit that – perhaps exacerbated by the contrast body cladding and a prominent gap between the tyre and wheelarch, it felt a little more rugged or at least suburban as opposed to ‘aero-first’. Perhaps we need to see it rolling amid regular traffic to get a clearer perspective. And although management are keen to position the Ioniq 3 as its own entity, it does share a similar mindset to that of the super-slippery Ioniq 6 sedan – just in a different package.

While this aero hatch sub-segment has captured the media’s attention, it is the underlying ‘Art of Steel’ design language that caught CDN’s eye. No less due to the presence of a giant roll of steel that had apparently been painstakingly wheeled in as part of the Milan exhibit. Over to Simon Loasby and head of design for Hyundai Europe, Eduardo Ramirez, to tell the story.

Car Design News: How did the idea behind ‘Art of Steel’ come about?

Simon Loasby: We developed a presentation in 2023 to share internally what our next design language will be. SangYup and and the team leaders were scratching our heads asking what do we do next? But we realised that steel is, by weight, the most used component of our cars. Plus, we make steel in-house. So, we found a presentation space and put a real coil of steel in the middle, even bigger than the one here, and considered how we could create a form language that looks like steel.

CDN: That steel coil must have been a pain to bring inside?

SL: They are really heavy. It can’t fall anywhere, and if it rolls off, you’ve got a real problem!

CDN: Where did you go from there?

SL: We set our designers the challenge to try and understand the raw material and create some paper sculptures to see what they could come up with. We ended up with 16 paper sculptures and then created a steel model, and that led to the car we see here. We essentially set a global challenge for our teams to think about how we use steel, the team in Europe, Namyang (South Korea), California, everywhere. The challenge was to find the art in it, how we can get the most out of the material, and how we can make a car look like the surfaces of steel jointed together.

CDN: From some of the sketches on show, and the models that were made in that initial presentation, I get the impression that the production car was finalised before the concept. Which would be quite unusual. Is that how it happened?

SL: It’s not the typical way of doing things, that’s true, but we’ve done it a few times: for example, this car (the Concept 3), and also recently the Ioniq Venus which we have shown in China. That’s the production car.

"We asked ourselves, what's the boldest colour we can do?"

CDN: So you almost had to take that final design and dial it back, or rather…

SL: …dial it up! Yes, that’s what we did for the Concept 3. It was interesting seeing people say “the production car will never happen, it’s just a concept”, but all the while we know that it’s already been completed. It shows you how serious we are about those shapes and forms we showcase with our concepts.

Eduardo Ramirez: When we start a project, especially one like this, the idea is to translate those inspirations into a real car. Not only a concept car, but to bring something meaningful to customers. Those early sketches were inspired by bending sheets of steel, so the first challenge was going from abstract ideas to something that follows the principles of a real compact car for Europeans.

CDN: Is there an element of the exterior that you feel really symbolises the Art of Steel design language?

ER: For me, it is probably the rear three quarter where it comes to a point. The car is defined conceptually by three planes: the side, the rear and the diagonal surface rolling from the top intersecting side.

SL: This is one of the technological marvels that we couldn’t have done without our engineering team. The rear window graphic goes to a point, and in general, you can't do that with steel. If you do a sharp corner, you either tear or ripple the steel. With the Concept 3, the end of the window graphic has this recess which runs around the seam and makes it possible. We’re very proud of that.

CDN: You’ve decided to show the car in red, which is quite a bold colour to go for. Given the Art of Steel, I expected to see more of a bare metal Delorean-esque finish…

ER: Yes. But at the same time we felt strongly about giving this car a punchy colour, as well as this matte finish which is very striking.

SL: When you drive through Milan you see all these small cars in bold colours. They’re an extension of a lifestyle, like a designer handbag. So we asked ourselves, what's the boldest colour we can do? And we came up with this matte red.

CDN: How does it feel showing the car here in Milan?

ER: It’s really exciting, it does feel a little bit more like a motor show but it still has this really strong artistic vibe, which makes it so exciting to present the car in this kind of environment.

CDN: Should we think of the Ioniq 3 as having similar principles to the Ioniq 6, just in a different segment?

ER: There is a certain similarity, offering interior roominess in an exterior shape which is uncompromised in terms of streamlining and compact sportiness. But, thinking about it, we never compared the two and there’s no intentional crossover.

SL: When you see them next to each other. It's a different world. Ioniq 6 is a much longer car, whereas this is a 4.1-metre hatchback. But yes, there’s a similar philosophy just in a totally different segment. There are other really good five door hatches in Europe from our competitors, so we wanted to do something different but for a real, logical reason. Our drag coefficient is 0.263 which is impressive for a five-door hatchback.