When Hyundai poached BMW M veteran Albert Biermann to lead the development of its newest, most exciting project – the marque’s own high-performance division we now know as N – it sent a big message to car enthusiasts that it meant business.
Hyundai teases new Ioniq 5 N EV with gearbox party trick
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And, in an automotive landscape where competitors are backing away from making hot models entirely, it’s making solid inroads into markets many no longer find viable. Think of the demise of the Renault Clio R.S. and how that contrasts with the somewhat spectacular arrival of the i20 N, for instance.
However, for its next trick, N is going to attempt something completely different. Hyundai’s Ioniq branded line-up of EVs are working similar magic in the electric car marketplace. Naturally, it’s time for the two subdivisions to get together to create a hot EV wearing the N badge. This is it: the Ioniq 5 N, and we can expect to see it in full in 2023.
It’s one of the automotive world’s worst kept secrets that Hyundai is working on a high-performance version of the Ioniq 5, and the car has already been teased. But this is actually the first time that the brand has confirmed in writing the arrival of a production-ready 5 N. And in a new video, it’s shone a light on how N’s engineers are going about its development.
When it set about creating internal combustion powered N models, Hyundai devised what it called a ‘rolling lab’ called the RM16 N – a fantasy N model never intended for production, but to raise eyebrows and to be used by engineers as a blank canvas for their endeavours. And it’s doing the exact same thing for electric models.
The N Vision 74 concept is an eye-catching vision of a hydrogen-fuelled future, but the RN22e is the rolling lab for electric Ns. While it looks a bit like the new Ioniq 6 electric saloon, its first assignment is the donkey work for the 5 N. It uses the E-GMP platform – the same electric architecture used under the 577PS (430kW) Kia EV6 GT we’ve just driven. But expect a few more party tricks from Hyundai’s hot application of the platform.
Teasing some of the new tech employed by the platform, we get a look at the new e-TVTC torque vectoring system – which Hyundai says uses the instant torque of electric motors in the battle against understeer.
More interestingly, you’d argue, is the N Sound and N e-Shift features in development on the RN22e, as they point to Hyundai developing a mock paddle-shift transmission for the Ioniq 5 N, complete with a combustion engine-like soundtrack and even simulated jolts of movement from the imaginary cogs swapping with aggression.
We’ll find out more about what Hyundai has in store for us, with the 5 N, at some point in 2023.
