All-new Ioniq 6 N confirmed for Festival of Speed
Hyundai has been previewing its next corner rascal for yonks - next month we find out if it was worth the wait
It’s still hard to get truly stoked about the prospect of an electric vehicle with sporting pretensions - it’s like being told your toaster doubles as a foot spa - but if any car maker can claim to have its hand on the excitement knob, it’s Hyundai. That’s because it’s proved itself more adept at most in delivering a battery-powered car that actually attempts to harness electrons for your amusement, rather than just reassembling them in gut-wrenching moments of acceleration. We rather liked the Ioniq 5 N, so it’s fair to assume that we might end up being partial to the incoming 6 N, too.
And now, at last, we know when we will get to see it. Introducing a car to the world at Festival of Speed is a tried and tested way of proving that it’s all about the fans - and with a fixed rear spoiler seemingly big enough to take shelter under, we can assume that Hyundai N hasn’t dispensed with its crowd-pleasing sensibilities. Certainly not when the 6 is said to share the same core principles that dictated the 5 N’s development: i.e. Corner Rascal, Racetrack Capability, and Everyday Sports Car. Which is not a bad summation of PH preoccupations, as it goes.
Elsewhere in its brief missive on the subject, the manufacturer promises ‘flared fenders, a wider stance, [and] lightweight wheels’ and, by the looks of the images, just the sort of model-specific restyle you’d expect of a saloon that’s almost certain to feature the same 650hp powertrain that underpinned the 5 N’s performance. It’s just possible too that the newcomer will end up eclipsing its sibling - after all, this is a car that will appear significantly closer to the ground than the hatchback-cum-crossover that preceded it. Not that we’d expect it to be any kinder to the scales.
“Ioniq 6 N will once again disrupt the high-performance EV segment to deliver exciting driving experiences to our fans,” said Joon Park, Vice President and Head of N Management Group. “We chose to debut the Ioniq 6 N at Goodwood Festival of Speed to be as close to our fans as possible.” He’s not wrong there. Getting significantly closer to their hearts is the next challenge, a development that would be aided no end by the announcement of a starting price that doesn’t start with a 6 and end with an expletive. Probably that level of disruption is too much to hope for. We’ll find out next month.
I do love the streamliner philosophy though. I'll be interested to see how they differentiate this from the Ioniq 5 N, if they bother at all?
I also can't see how this will sell in the same volumes either - perhaps that's why this has taken so much longer to reach the market.
Looks awful from all angles.
I liked the idea of the Ioniq 6 but it never seemed like it quite delivered. It's form is supposed to follow function and be hyper-efficient, but it only gets a few more miles than the Ioniq 5, so you kind of wonder what the point is.
An N version seems like a daft idea so good on them. Looking forward to seeing it.
Looks awful from all angles.
Edit: literally the article above on the homepage being a prime example.
Looks awful from all angles.
Looks awful from all angles.
Looks awful from all angles.
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