Hyundai Ioniq 5 sells out in hours following website crashes

The Hyundai Ioniq 5 electric crossover has sold out within hours of going on sale online – at least for this year.

An email sent this morning to some 13,000 would-be owners who had registered an email address as an expression of interest led to glitches and website crashes before some were informed they had missed out on the mid-sized SUV priced from $71,900 plus on-road costs.

Hyundai had warned that “stock is limited to less than 400 vehicles” and that Ioniq 5s “will be allocated to customers on a first-come-first-serve basis as well as a customer’s proximity to a Hyundai delivery location”.

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However, within two hours of the email being sent at around 9.40am today those trying to place a deposit were being informed the cars had all sold out.

A statement by Hyundai said: “Please be advised the initial allocation of 240 Ioniq 5s for Australia has been sold, with 170 deposits taken this morning through the Hyundai website.”

The other 70 cars of the first batch have gone to those who had initially paid a deposit to a dealer before Hyundai decided to make it an online-only sales process.

As for why Hyundai is now saying there were only 240 cars when there were apparently 400 this morning, it comes down to production times apparently. Despite the marketing email suggesting there were 400, the company only had 240 to allocate today, of which 70 were already accounted for.

The remaining 160 Ioniq 5s are due to be built over coming months and some may not arrive until early 2022.

And as for claims about there only being, 400, that’s not entirely true. There will be more Ioniq 5s heading to Australia in 2022, but Hyundai is not saying how many more or when they will arrive.

“Once we have clear visibility of vehicle supply, we intend to release a second allocation of Ioniq 5s, with timing likely to be early 2022,” said Hyundai in a statement. “Customers who missed out will receive regular updates about the supply situation and timing for release of the next batch.”

Simply getting to the start line for the Ioniq 5 this morning was half the problem. The Ioniq 5 ordering section of the website was down for much of the day (for now the Ioniq 5 cannot be bought through dealers) with an error message stating “We’re experiencing high demand, we will be back online soon.”.

One would-be owner, Ian Wilson, who commented on EV Central’s article said he could not even place a deposit.

“The website kept reporting ‘something unexpected went wrong’ when trying to click through the configuration and options pages. It took many, many repeated clicks over about an hour to get to the final page where one’s deposit could be paid. But then over another hour or more and maybe a hundred or so clicks of the ‘finalise payment’ button it kept reporting the same ‘something unexpected went wrong’ error.”

Mr Wilson – who liked the ability to fit a tow bar on the Ioniq 5 – says he was eventually informed the initial allocation had been depleted.

“After starting at sometime around 9:42 am (just after receiving the emailed link to the early access site), and continually trying to pay the $2000, at around 12:30 pm the system came back and told me that they had sold out.”

His will no doubt not be the last story of frustration.

While rival Tesla seems to have a free supply of cars – the company is still quoting on its website that delivery of a Model 3 can take as little as one week – Hyundai and others cannot get enough supply to keep up with the growing EV demand.

Of course, there are other options.

Kia is gearing up to launch its new EV6, which shares its architecture and electrical components with the Ioniq 5.

And Polestar will soon start selling the Polestar 2, which has a starting price identical to that of the Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus.

Tesla is also expected to start selling the Tesla Model Y in Australia soon.