Hyundai N is only just getting started…

Major performance brands around the world that turn heads and win hearts are easy to recall: Mercedes and AMG, BMW and its M Division, Audi’s RS line-up. All have built themselves up over decades of design heritage, engineering nous and motorsport trophies to transform the everyday cars that we drive. 

Which makes it all the more remarkable that Hyundai’s N brand, which has elevated itself to a deserved place on that list, only started in 2015. It’s quite the journey for the Korean offshoot that does its research in Namyang and its testing at the Nurburgring (hence, the “N”). 

It’s a formula that initially turned heads in motorsport. With a core team featuring luminaries from the performance car world, the N logo first saw the public eye on the i20 rally car, unveiled at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show. By 2019, Hyundai had sown up the 2019 WRC manufacturer’s championship with a mammoth 380 points.

And when that know-how moved to the road, the hits kept on coming, where a combination of handling, everyday drivability and track day chops reinvigorated the hot hatch segment which had laid rather dormant. The i30 N brought all of this to a practical family car  Its little brother, the i20 N hatch, was then named Top Gear’s car of the year for 2021.

Watch the film above to see why Till Wartenberg, Vice President N Brand Management & Motorsport, says: 

“.. you need to keep pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. You need to ask questions, play with solutions. Challenge the status quo. And N is just getting started.”

Two cars sum up this future even better than any words. First up, the N Vision 74, a rolling lab for Hyundai’s design and technology that is inspired by the legendary designer Giorgetto Giugiaro’s iconic Pony Coupe Concept from 1974. A 670BHP electric twin-motor combines with a unique onboard hydrogen fuel cell system to deliver a rear-wheel drive masterpiece with 370 miles of range and a top speed of 155 mph. Not only that – the car can charge in five minutes, making future endurance events an intriguing possibility.

Similarly, the RN22e – a 577BHP all-electric touring car based on Hyundai’s Ioniq 6 saloon – introduced a ground-breaking simulated paddle-shift system that solves one of the most difficult problems that EVs face: making them as engaging to drive. 

N brand is confident enough in the RN22e and Ioniq 6 it’s built upon, to announce that a version will be entering next year’s FIA ETCR, the first ever team to enter a dedicated EV road going car into a motorsport season. 

“At Hyundai N, our pace is accelerating,” says Wartenberg. With this track record, what will be next?