Hyundai Ioniq 5 N will be faster than i30 N, says development boss

The Hyundai Ioniq 5 N electric performance car will be faster and more capable than today’s petrol-powered Hyundai i30 N hot hatch, says the high-ranking engineer involved in the development of both vehicles.

A high-powered version of Hyundai’s first new-from-the-ground-up electric vehicle is due to join the local showroom line-up next year.

Camouflaged cars have been caught on camera at the Nürburgring racetrack in Germany ahead of a formal unveiling later this year. 

The Hyundai Ioniq 5 N will be the first high-performance electric car from the South Korean car giant, and is based on the first model on its 'E-GMP' electric-vehicle platform.

While price, specifications and performance figures for the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N are yet to be disclosed, a high-ranking Hyundai executive and the former boss of the N performance division, Albert Biermann, says it will be fast enough to change perceptions.

“It will be much faster (than the Hyundai i30 N),” Mr Biermann told Drive at a recent media conference in Germany.

“How could it be slower? It has almost 600 horsepower [441kW].”

When asked to clarify the combined outputs from the two electric motors in the upcoming all-wheel-drive model, Mr Biermann said: “It’s not finalised, it could be 580, 600, 620 horsepower [427kW, 441kW, 456kW]. It’s a lot.”

Powered by a turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine backed by an eight-speed twin-clutch gearbox, the current Hyundai i30 N is one of the quickest-accelerating front-wheel-drive hot hatches on sale today, with real-world zero to 100km/h times in the 5.5-second bracket.

Despite the promise of performance with the upcoming Hyundai Ioniq 5 N, Mr Biermann said the car would not only be about speed, but how it sounds and feels.

“Faster doesn’t matter,” said Mr Biermann. “It’s about grin, heartbeat. The question is how much fun is it? How big is your grin?”

When asked if Hyundai planned to deliver “snap, crackle, and popcorn” sounds to mimic the exhaust note of a high-performance petrol car, Mr Biermann said: “That is the biggest challenge. The speed is already there, we have tonnes of speed.

“When I joined the company we talked a lot about cutting noise, now we talk about adding sound to electric cars to give the driver a nice feeling, some excitement.

“As for the ‘popcorn’ sounds, it is hard to mimic a dynamic explosion in a combustion system using only audio speakers inside the cabin. Sound is important, of course, but it's not the whole game.”

To that end, although the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N is all-wheel drive, Mr Biermann confirmed the new performance model will have a “drift mode” – which at the press of a button will send most power to the rear wheels, enabling rear-wheel skids in closed conditions such as race tracks and skid pans.

The Hyundai Ioniq 5 N triplets-under-the-skin – the Kia EV6 GT and Genesis GV60 Performance electric cars – offer similar functions.

Although the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N will have a regenerative braking system, it will also come with “strong friction brakes”.

“Of course,” said Mr Biermann. “If it’s a Hyundai N car it must pass our Nürburgring tests.”