Hyundai’s N-branded combustion cars have proven that the company can build hot hatches, performance crossovers and sports sedans that are every bit as good as the competition.
But the next generation of N heroes will be electric, a revolution that starts with the Ioniq 5 N, which the company has just teased on a new “rolling labs” video. The hot 5 is clad in a camo-wrap and only appears briefly at the very last few seconds of the film alongside the RN22e (a thinly-veiled Ioniq 6 N) and the N Vision 74, which could eventually inspire a tasty electric alternative to a Nissan Z. But the 5’s cameo means the full reveal must be very close, probably in the early part of 2023.
Though the disguise and fleeting screen time doesn’t give away much about how the 5 N will look, it’s not hard to imagine the cool, chiselled good looks of the stock 5 amplified with more aggressive bumpers, lower suspension and bigger wheels. Check out our unofficial rendering at the bottom of the page to see what we think Hyundai has in store for us.
Related: Hyundai Was Developing A Mid-Engined Supercar For The N Division
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Hyundai hasn’t confirmed the the exact powertrain spec, but we know it’ll be a dual-motor, all-wheel drive setup that should roughly match the outputs of its opposite number from sister company Kia, the EV6 GT. That would mean a total of 577 hp (585 PS) driving through all four wheels and a zero to 62 mph (100 km/h) time of around 3.5 seconds.
One piece of tech we’d love to see on the Ioniq 5 N is the eTVTC (electronic torque vectoring by twin clutch) transmission hardware that allows the RN22e concept to reduce understeer by carefully apportioning torque between left and right wheels, almost as if it was running a quad-motor setup. The RN22e also lets its driver customize the torque split between front and rear wheels, allowing them to smoke the rear wheels, something demonstrated multiple times in the video.
Hyundai acknowledges that driving on a circuit can generate a ton of battery heat that comprises an EVs performance, but says it’s worked hard to ensure its electric N cars won’t throw in the towel after a couple of laps at a trackday. And it claims that careful tuning of sounds and physical sensations within the car will help recreate some of the excitement we feel when driving a powerful gas car.
