Hyundai’s N performance brand will not restrict itself exclusively to electric sports cars in the future and could launch hot new ICE-powered models alongside the Ioniq 5 N and upcoming Ioniq 6 N.
The Korean firm’s sporting division – its answer to the likes of BMW M and Volkswagen R – was launched with the i30 N in 2017. It followed that up with the smaller i20 N in 2021, before revealing the Ioniq 5 N as its first EV in 2023 and taking the two petrol hot hatchbacks off sale shortly afterwards.
Following the unveiling of the Ioniq 6 N at Goodwood next month, the performance brand will have a two-car, exclusively electric, line-up, but N division boss Joon Park has suggested more models will follow – and they won’t necessarily use pure-battery powertrains.
Speaking at the Autocar Awards ceremony in London, where the Ioniq 5 N was named as one of 2025’s five-star cars, Park said the N brand will keep step with its parent company Hyundai in maintaining a diverse powertrain offering over the coming years.
“The problem that we have is that there is a perception from the media and our fans that Hyundai N is only focusing on the EV world, which is not true,” he said.
“Even though we are going to introduce the Ioniq 6 N at Goodwood Festival of Speed, we are not limiting ourselves to EVs.”
He stopped short of confirming any specifics of these new models, but Hyundai has already confirmed it will respond to slower-than-expected global uptake of EVs with a significantly expanded line-up of hybrid models and it will also launch its first range-extender (REx) EV in the US next year.
Park suggested that no specific technology is off the table for N, saying: “We’re going forward with EVs, of course, as well as all the other proposals we could do.
“Because for N, imagination and courage are the words we need to remember.”
The performance brand has previously experimented with hydrogen fuel cell power, revealing the striking Vision N 74 concept in 2022 as a fully functional rolling laboratory with 670bhp at the rear axle and a total range of more than 370 miles supplied by its 95kW fuel cell.
That car has often been reported to have been green-lit for production over the past three years, but Hyundai has never officially confirmed plans to put it in showrooms, and its subsequent performance car concepts have been battery-powered, rather than FCEVs.
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