Hyundai has rolled out a fresh concept car, previewing its next all-electric offering. This one, called Concept Three, was just unveiled at the Munich motor show and you can bet it’ll be sold as the Ioniq 3.

After the runaway success of the Ioniq 5, slick Ioniq 6 and the newly launched Ioniq 9, this was the logical next step.

While those bigger cars helped launch the brand onto the EV map (along with the Kona EV and earlier Ioniq models), Hyundai is now aiming for the Euro heartland: a proper, practical electric hatch to take on the VW Golf’s electric successor.

It’s a key move into a segment that really matters for volume sales in one of the few markets that still cherishes the compact car – to the credit of all Europeans and their tiny little streets.

They’re calling the new design language ‘Art of Steel’, which is certainly a choice. In reality, it’s a smoother, more fluid look than the retro, folded-paper design of the Ioniq 5, but the cues are there.

The best bit is the ‘Aero Hatch’ profile, a classic Kammback tail that’s both efficient and practical, giving off some very cool Honda CR-X vibes.

The 8-bit pixel lights are still there, thankfully, though they’ve been updated with a new gradient effect.

Inside, the goal was apparently a calm and simple space, which sounds like a welcome break from the usual touchscreen assault in modern cars. There are some classic concept-car touches, like a modular dashboard for custom widgets – but we know Hyundai will make sure we get all the switches we’ve come to expect from its latest models, as one of the few brands listening to our touchscreen complaints.

They’re not entirely immune to the curse of the digital era, though: The Three also has a bizarre digital character called ‘Mr. Pix’, which gives off some worrying Microsoft Clippy energy.

If you can look past the very Hot Wheels yellow glass tint and the weird digital mascot, the core design of the Three concept is proper solid and – I hope – a strong signal of what’s to come from Hyundai.

A stylish, practical, and hopefully affordable electric hatch is exactly what the market needs, and this is a pretty convincing preview. Hopefully a few more Aussies will go for it instead of whichever SUV they might have otherwise looked at.

And here’s to hoping we get a hot N version!

Hyundai’s got a new electric hatch coming