Hyundai is making considerable progress when it comes to broadening the N label. More and more models are getting the sporty sauce poured over, with the Kona N being the latest addition in the series since today. More fireworks will probably be expected soon, because Hyundai is working on an electric N-model.
It is not yet known exactly what that model will look like. On ‘N Day’, the event at which Hyundai pulled the curtain off the Kona N, Thomas Schemera, head of the ‘Customer Experience’ department, explains what the brand is currently working on. The sporty EV will be on the E-GMP platform that also forms the basis of the Ioniq 5. The strongest variant of this currently delivers 306 hp, but the Kia EV6 GT – which is on the same platform – already delivers 585 hp. For Hyundai, it would be a logical step to put that powertrain in the Ioniq 5 under the N label, although that scenario is not explicitly mentioned by Hyundai.
Schemera does indicate that electrification plays a major role in the future of the N-label. He refers to the N 2025 Vision Gran Turismo Concept, a hydrogen study model that Hyundai already presented in 2015. For the sporty models, Hyundai seems to be focusing on both battery-electric models and cars with a fuel cell. Currently, the brand is already driving prototypes as a ‘rolling lab’, which are said to be on the RM platform of the RM20e unveiled last year. Hyundai is working on this together with the Croatian EV specialists from Rimac Automobili. According to Schemera, that platform forms a ‘solid foundation for future N models’. What Hyundai has in store for the N-label will become clear at a later stage.