Hyundai Ioniq 9 vs Tesla Cybertruck

What's the difference?

Hyundai is reaching for new heights with the Ioniq 9. And I don't just mean that literally – though it's certainly true that this three-row electric SUV is an absolute giant of a vehicle. I mean because it's also the most expensive car, electric or otherwise, to ever wear the Hyundai badge.

With it, Hyundai steps into premium air – the Volvo EX90 starts at around the same money, as does the Audi Q6 e-tron, albeit with fewer seats.

And because Hyundai has only brought in one flagship variant, the Ioniq 9 is also miles above the cheapest Kia EV9. But will its customers rise with it? 

Let's find out.

Tesla’s Cybertruck truly is a giant wedge of cutting-edge technology, and not only because its edges are so sharp you could literally cut yourself, or chop kindling, with them. 

No vehicle, nor indeed even any of his stupid ideas, so perfectly represents the manic mania, the whooping, wanton wackiness of Elon Musk as this comically angular, sharp-edged savager of pedestrians.

And yet people, and American people in particular as we discovered on a trip to Los Angeles to drive one, love the Cybertruck. Tesla is said to be holding as many as 2 million pre-orders for it in North America alone and many Australians have expressed interest in buying one, when the company finally manages to build it in right-hand drive, and get it on sale down here, almost regardless of the price (spoiler alert: it’s going to be a lot).

I’ve seen a lot of strange and wildly ugly cars over the years, but if you parked the Cybertruck next to all of them, they’d just disappear because you really can’t take your eyes off its pointy, almost dangerous looking lines. It’s like a human tried to engineer an echidna on wheels.

It does make me laugh, though, and so it was with a smile on my face and acid dripping from my pen that I arrived at a giant Tesla delivery centre in LA to drive it. Come with me.