When automakers want to connect with a large number of enthusiasts for the launch of a new car they’re increasingly choosing the Goodwood Festival of Speed over traditional auto shows and Hyundai is no exception.
The Korean firm has announced that its first showroom-bound electric performance car, the Ioniq 5 N, will make its global debut at this year’s FoS, which takes place in the south of England on July 13-16. We hope to see the N make some demonstration runs up the Goodwood House driveway that doubles as a hillclimb, and expect Hyundai to have static examples for visitors to pore over, too.
Though Hyundai has previously dropped teaser images and video of the N EV, it hasn’t dished out a full technical breakdown. But we know it will share plenty with Kia’s EV6 GT. The Kia makes 576 hp (584 PS) and 545 lb-ft (738 Nm) of torque and gets to 60mph (98 km/h) in 3.4 seconds, but former Hyundai N chief Albert Biermann has hinted that the Ioniq could have around 600 hp (608 PS). That’s a big jump on the 168 hp (170 PS) offered by the entry-level Ioniq, a car that needs 8.5 seconds to reach 62 mph (100 km/h).
Related: Watch Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 N Go Twin-Drifting With i20 N WRC Racer
Being the first electric N-car makes the 5 N a big deal for Hyundai and Hyundai fans, but it brings another first that’s arguably just as important: it is Hyundai’s first all-wheel drive N machine. We already know that the hot Ioniq comes with several bits of advanced all-wheel drive hardware designed to make it both agile and easy to get up to mischief with.
One of those gadgets is called the N Drift Optimizer and blends the torque distribution between the front and rear axles, as well as tweaking the steering effort, suspension stiffness, and the e-LSD on the rear axle to make even the biggest oversteer noob feel like a Japanese touge legend.