The 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 XRT Is An Off-Road Version Of An Awesome EV Hatchback, And It’s Being Built In America To Get That Sweet Tax Credit

Hyundai Motor Group had a lot of success with its lineup of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) over the last several years, winning lots of awards and also sales. While Ford likes to lay claim to being the #2 selling BEV brand in the U.S. behind Tesla, when you combine the sales of Hyundai, Genesis and Kia, the three brands that comprise HMG, they are well ahead of Ford. (Even if we add Lincoln to Ford it doesn’t help because Lincoln doesn’t offer any BEVs). For 2025, HMG is looking to build on its BEV success by continuing to expand its lineup, adding a new off-road “XRT” variant and moving more production to the U.S..

In early 2022, HMG announced plans for a new assembly and battery plant near Savannah, Georgia that would focus on building BEVs. At the time of the original announcement the goal was to start production in Savannah by mid-2025. But then in August of that year, the Inflation Reduction Act was passed which included a revamp of the clean vehicle tax credit program for plug-in EVs and fuel cell vehicles. 

Under the new rules the vehicles had to be assembled in North America and batteries had to be sourced here or from a free trade partner country to qualify for the incentives. There was a loophole that allowed for people to lease foreign assembled BEVs and get the credit by classifying the lease as a commercial vehicle transaction but that’s a tale for another day. 

At the time the IRA was passed, all of HMG’s BEVs and plug-in hybrids were being produced in South Korea and thus didn’t qualify. So HMG quickly pivoted to try to make as many of its BEVs eligible for IRA credits as soon as possible. Within weeks, HMG announced that it would pull ahead construction of what it was calling the “Metaplant” by nine months with the goal of beginning vehicle production by the fourth quarter of 2024. 

It’s now September 2024 and HMG has already been building pre-production Ioniq 5s in Savannah for some time and will start full production in October. HMG had already previously started production of the Genesis GV70 Electrified at its plant in Montgomery Alabama and production of the Kia EV9 began in West Pointe, Georgia in June of this year. Sometime in 2025, Hyundai will also start production of the Ioniq 9 3-row SUV at the Metaplant. The Kia EV6 and possibly the Genesis GV60 will probably also be produced there as will future hybrid and plug-in hybrid models. 

A Slightly Refreshed Ioniq 5 For 2025

For its fourth model year, the Ioniq 5 is getting a mid-cycle refresh and an interesting new trim level. The mild visual refresh of the standard Ioniq 5 has already been shown off earlier this year in South Korea, The overall look is basically unchanged with all of the sheet-metal being carried over. The lower portion of the front bumper has been revised giving it a slightly more aggressive character with little forward thrust and some black areas. The rear bumper has been similarly recontoured making it look a bit more like it has a diffuser. 

The primary change to the interior is the center console. The forward portion of the console has been rearranged with the cupholders one behind the other to make space for the wireless charging pad up top next to the drink cavities. Some of the buttons below the infotainment screen have also been rearranged and the bezel around the screens has been switched from white to black, but overall it’s largely carryover which is fine because it was already quite good. 

Here’s the old interior, for reference:

One of the complaints many people have had about the Ioniq 5 and many other BEVs is the lack of a rear wiper on the tailgate. This is an extremely important feature in poor weather, and the complaints of its absence clearly outweighed the slight aerodynamic and cost benefit of leaving it off in the first place. 

More Juice

Under the floor, the 2025 Ioniq 5 is getting battery upgrades. The standard range pack gets a capacity increase from 58 to 63-kWh. That will bump the driving range from the current 220 miles to over 240 miles. Extended range variants will grow from the current 77.4-kWh to 84-kWh. That will stretch the current 303-mile range for the rear drive models to over 310 while all-wheel-drive versions will get between 250 and 280+ miles depending on the tire and wheel combination that is fitted. 

According to Hyundai senior manager of product planning, Andre Ravinowich, the updated battery packs use the same cell chemistry as before. However, the internals of the pack have been rearchitected to improve the packaging efficiency and enable more cells to be installed in the same pack volume. 

New Ports

Perhaps one of the most exciting changes for potential BEV purchasers is that the Ioniq 5 will probably be the first non-Tesla vehicle produced with a native NACS/SAE J3400 charge port. That’s the same port used by Tesla and fitted to all Tesla Supercharger stations. In 2023, HMG announced it would join other automakers in switching from the current CCS1 charging port to NACS or what is now officially called the J3400 port. The Society of Automotive Engineers has developed a new industry standard around the Tesla-designed connector that is labeled J3400. 

Having this port built into the vehicle means Hyundai drivers will be able to charge at Tesla stations without using an adapter. However, Ioniq 5 owners will in fact be getting an adapter with the purchase of their vehicle, one which allows them to plug a CCS1 charger into their J3400 port. Over the next couple of years, most other EVs are expected to be fitted with this port as they get updated. 

One downside of this is that HMG’s 800V electrical architecture still isn’t fully compatible with Tesla’s current V3, 400V Superchargers. They will charge, but they remain limited to 84-kW, the same as current Ioniq 5s using Superchargers with the Magic Dock. HMG is working with Tesla on a solution. Tesla has a V4 Supercharger that operates at over 800V, but none of those have actually been deployed yet and it’s unclear if or when this will happen after CEO Elon Musk fired the 500 person Supercharger team during a round of layoffs last spring. In the meantime, the Ioniq 5 will still maintain its 230-240-kW charging capability from functioning CCS1 chargers using the adapter. 

One other relatively minor challenge the Ioniq 5 and its siblings will face initially is on the software side. Partly as a result of the destaffing at Tesla, the HMG vehicles won’t have support for Plug&Charge on the Supercharger network the way Ford and Rivian EVs do. That means that drivers will have to use the Tesla app to initiate and manage Supercharger sessions and provide a payment method. Ravinowich hopes this will be addressed early in 2025.

Having a native NACS charging port on the car means that it does support AC charging. The adapters for Ford and Rivian vehicles only support DC fast charging. There are currently nearly 12,000 Tesla Destination chargers at over 4,800 locations like hotels, stores and restaurants that have charging speeds up to 20-kW and the Ioniq 5 will be the first non-Tesla vehicle that can utilize them. 

Let’s Go Adventuring: XRT

Over the past couple of years, Hyundai has begun adding a new trim level to several of its vehicles starting with the Tucson and now the Santa Cruz that is designed to provide improved off-pavement capability. The XRT trim adds some all-terrain tires and a more aggressive off-roader appearance. For 2025, Ioniq 5 is now also available as an XRT. While it doesn’t go as extreme as Rivian’s upcoming R3X, that model is at least two years away from production. The Ioniq 5 XRT will be at US dealerships by the end of 2024 and starts production about 3 weeks after other Ioniq 5 models. 

Like Hyundai’s other XRT models, the Ioniq 5 won’t be a hardcore off-roader challenging Wranglers and Broncos, but it will be more akin to a Subaru Crosstrek Wilderness. The battery and propulsion system are unchanged from the mainstream AWD Ioniq 5 with the same 320-hp and 446 lb-ft of torque from its two motors. Only the larger 84-kWh battery will be available and range will likely be in the neighborhood of 250 miles. 

The big differences are visual and suspension related. The XRT gets a 23-mm (~1 inch) lift for a bit more ground clearance and about double the enhancement the Santa Cruz XRT gets. It also rides on 235/60R18 all-terrain tires. These should give a lot more traction off pavement, and the taller sidewalls will be more resilient to rocks, ruts and potholes. These tires are mounted on new 18-inch black painted alloy wheels with rectangular holes that echo the pixel design elsewhere on the Ioniq 5. Steering, springs and dampers have all be retuned to compensate for these changes. 

Visually, the XRT gets new front and rear fascias with a much more rugged look than street-only Ioniq 5s. The new bumper covers are contoured so that in combination with the added ride height, the approach and departure angles are significantly improved. The approach angle is now 19.8 degrees (2.3 more) and the departure angle goes from 25.4 degrees to a full 30 degrees. The front fascia also features red, integrated tow hooks with a 5,834-lb capacity which should be enough to extract the XRT if the driver goes beyond its limits. 

The XRT designers didn’t want to just slap on the usual matte black bumper and wheel arch cladding so often found on these types of variants (they specifically called out Subaru). Instead they developed a cool digital camouflage pattern that is molded into the black plastic. In the sun, it’s quite clearly visible and has a texture to it when you slide a finger across, giving the car more character. Overall, the XRT has a very athletic stance that builds on the unique character of the Ioniq 5. 

We don’t yet have any information about where the performance levels of Rivian’s R3X will land when it arrives in a couple of years. But HMG has a portfolio of electric propulsion options up to 640-hp that it could easily drop into a speculative Ioniq 5 N XRT if competitive pressures demanded it. Ravinowich says there is no known work happening on such a variant and nothing has been approved, but he also said he wouldn’t be surprised if the N team back in Korea has a development mule running around its sandbox. 

No updated pricing has been announced yet for the 2025 Ioniq 5 lineup, that will come closer to the on-sale date which will be by December. Initially, the Georgia-built Ioniq 5s should be eligible for $3,750 in federal tax credits when purchased. That should rise to the full $7,500 as more of the battery components are localized over the next year or two. Those that opt for a lease can get the full $7,500 passed through from day one.