Hyundai is creating its own dedicated, battery-electric brand called 'Ioniq' and wants to sell 1 million EVs by 2025

• Hyundai's launched a new battery-electric brand on Sunday, and it'll be called "Ioniq."
• The Ioniq started out as an electrified Hyundai five-door car, which launched in 2016. The move to branch the name into its own brand is similar to what Hyundai did with Genesis in 2015.
• Hyundai says it wants to sell 1 million battery-electric cars by 2025.

Electrified cars are no longer the things of science fiction. They're gaining popularity, with automaker after automaker launching new models and dedicated EV brands. Hyundai just became the latest.

The Hyundai Ioniq, which started life as Hyundai's electrified five-door compact car, is now the namesake of a dedicated battery-electric brand that the Korean automaker launched on Sunday.

Ioniq's brand mission, Hyundai announced, will combine what the company says Hyundai EVs currently offer — fast charging, roomy interiors, battery power — with futuristic innovations that blend technology, service, and design. And the strategy is aggressive: Hyundai wants to sell a million battery-electric vehicles and "become a leader in the global EV field" by 2025.

Ioniq-brand cars will use an EV-dedicated platform, called the Electric Global Modular Platform. With E-GMP, Hyundai promises "plentiful driving range" and fast-charging capabilities. Additionally, Ioniq cars will have wireless connectivity and other features that create a "smart living space," Hyundai said.

Models launched under the Ioniq brand will be named with numbers and follow a pattern: even numbers for sedans and odd numbers for SUVs. Up first will be the Ioniq 5 — a mid-size CUV that we can expect in early 2021, which will be based on the 45 EV concept from the 2019 Frankfurt International Motor Show.

After, in 2022, the Ioniq 6 will follow. It'll be based on Hyundai's Prophecy EV concept. The Ioniq 7 "large SUV" will come in early 2024.

This isn't the first time Hyundai has spun a new brand off of one of its existing vehicles. Its luxury arm, Genesis, began as a sedan in the late 2000s. In 2015, Hyundai separated the Genesis name off to become its own luxury brand. Shortly after, the Hyundai Genesis Coupe, which also existed during this time, was killed off in 2016. The original Hyundai Genesis sedan was rebadged to become the Genesis G80.

The move to launch an electrified standalone brand is also similar to Polestar, which is jointly owned by Volvo and its parent company, Geely. The Polestar 1 is a hybrid car, but the Polestar 2, the brand's second offering, is battery-electric only.

The original Hyundai Ioniq was launched in 2016 as a five-door model that was available either as a hybrid-electric, plug-in hybrid, or battery-electric car. Its name is a portmanteau of the words "ion" and "unique."