Hyundai Started Work on Electric N Car Before We Knew We Wanted It - Autoline Exclusives

Hyundai has just launched its first performance electric car, the IONIQ 5 N, but we learned from Joonwoo Park the VP of the N brand that it started the development work more than 3 years ago. At first, the EVs it tried to benchmark weren't capable of the type of endurance on a race track that Woo felt like N customers would expect. So, that's one of the areas it set out to correct. Plus, learn a lot more insight into the electric N program.
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[@daves1646]

Simply outstanding to see the head of a performance program be EXCITED about what’s happening AND pushing the capability to the full product lines!

[@jcwfh]

Exactly as the Hyundai engineer said. In track driving, managing the weight or the rotation of the car (in addition to speed and acceleration) is critical. The best way to manage weight is by being able to quickly manipulate G forces and you do that with gear shifts. Slam into the right gear at the right time and it’s quicker than micromanaging speed with just throttle control. What Hyundai has done is to take the regen and torque property of electric motors and digitize a DCT program for it. In the Ioniq 5 N you can slam it into a regen gear (a torque band) using the left/right paddle shifters (0.6G at the highest in the Ioniq) similar to downshifting/upshifting. And shift changes, whether digitally in electric motors or mechanically with multiple gearing, when amplified with sound, registers much quicker in the brain. I would love to see a KZbinr demonstrate how you attack a track turn with DCT gear shifts versus a single-speed automatic transmission and you’ll get the idea. So yeah, electric cars have always had the potential for regen and torque shifting. It took Hyundai to make it work with the Ioniq 5 N synthesizing a DCT feel and RPM feedback and it’s what performance track drivers have been waiting for. Electric cars will never be the same. You can bet BMW and Audi are back on the drawing board.

[@russh6414]

Hyundai gets it and got the jump on other automakers with the Ionic 5 N. Understanding that there is a market for Electric performance cars that actually make some noise and are FUN to drive and not generically boring is brilliant! Next up, customizable exhaust tones.

[@robwalker4548]

I get branding but it is silly to keep putting N in front of everything on their info screens and that excludes my growing distaste of having everything on a screen.

[@JohnLee-db9zt]

@@robwalker4548Tell Tesla 😂

[@rondail5675]

Good discussion. I like Joonwoo's personality and energy.

[@DericO-rz3be]

This seems to miss a very important part of the story... Originally N stood purely for Namyang [Hyundai’s main test HQ in South Korea] and it was always intended to be a high-performance brand for Hyundai. Albert Biermann came over from BMW M in 2015 .."I’m not certain who came up with the idea originally because I was still at BMW then. But to be honest, when I first went to Hyundai my brief was to develop the N project, and I thought the Namyang reference didn’t really mean anything to anyone outside Hyundai....with our test centre at the Nürburgring, and now N stands for both Namyang and the Nürburgring.

[@JohnLee-db9zt]

Hence the double overlapping N of the emblem. 😁

[@robwalker4548]

Autoline has become my go to channel for automotive news for for both ICE and EVs for something close to balanced information rather than being all pro or hating on EVs and ICE.

[@jake5993]

That was awesome. And a neat journalism moment at the end with him. Could we have EVs with out brakes and just regen magnetic braking?

[@4literv6]

Yes stellantis has an actual racing prototype with no physical rear brakes. Formula e gen 3 went without rear brake discs as well for 2023. So a 200+mph 0-60mph in 2.5s race car doesn't need any rear friction brakes anymore. The latest taycan can generate over .5g of regen braking allowing for a claim of covering up to 95% of ALL daily use braking events without engaging the friction brake system. Watch out for the brembo sensify system to enter production later this year to, a true brake by wire with very advanced regen settings.

[@concinnus]

Because of weight shift, power is rear-biased, while braking is front-biased. So omitting rear brakes is doable, but front friction brakes will always be necessary.

[@madsdgdhg]

He talks with such an N enthusiasm that we can see great things coming.

[@urbanstrencan]

N division really knows how it's done, great work 😊❤❤

[@omniphoriusvcf907]

So cool...automotive history being written before our eyes.

[@bobbbobb4663]

Buy here, pay here Hyundai beating Tesla!

[@russh6414]

If Captain K wasn't so busy building personal pet projects, his engineers could have done something cool like this.

[@krkope8277]

That's a great interview.

[@rsamd]

They want to get the i30n people to ev. I think its the right way with Ioniq 5n.

[@DouglasLippi]

Whoa the camera lens. Great content though!

[@frankcoffey]

Full on beavis and butthead look there.

[@madsdgdhg]

It's seems a great car. But in Europe we need a smaller N hot hatch and a lower price similar to an I30N. Not only the Ioniq 5 is a big car but the N version can cost 80.000 euros in Europe.

[@brunoheggli2888]

Wow,game over for Tesla!

[@robwalker4548]

Which is what you say as you plug into a Tesla charger to charge your Tesla. But yes I do agree with the pass that Tesla gets on some issues like the failure to fully adopt “right to repair” and making their cars easier to repair but Tesla today is here to stay just as Ford was in 1924.

[@JohnLee-db9zt]

@@robwalker4548now Ford sucks

[@sarabeth8050]

Teslas are stale. Hyundais and Kia are fresh. Nuff said.

[@Harrythehun]

The world isn't black or white. There is a place for both

[@chrisg8995]

Watch Sandy’s Cybertruck speech from over the weekend and say that again with a straight face.

[@bobbbobb4663]

@@chrisg8995You mean $andy the guy who bought Tesla stock a few days before starting his YT channel and never disclosed it? You mean the guy who sang the praises of VinFast so he could get a free trip to Vietnam? You mean the guy too lazy to get an engineering degree?

[@kylerobinson7572]

I like my stale model Y! Especially when road tripping to California or Wyoming from Arizona. I don’t want to have to rely on the limited number of electrify America chargers. As soon as they adopt that NACS adapter, it will be a different story :-)

[@chrisg8995]

@@bobbbobb4663Yep, that Sandy.

[@ChicagoBob123]

Rich people need their toys. I am glad they are extending the EV space. Me I need a car that's quick and according to consumer reports cheap to maintain. Tesla.

[@JohnLee-db9zt]

Tesla is “cheap” to maintain until it breaks out of warranty or gets into an accident. $7k repair for a credit card sized dent to the bumper is for rich folks.

[@ilollipop100]

Anyone who wants this car has the mentality of a five year old.

[@JohnLee-db9zt]

So Albert Biermann, the chief engineer of N who was the former chief engineer of M division of BMW, has the mentality of a 5 year old? I bet you enjoy watching a toaster. 😂

[@JohnLee-db9zt]

Is it just my imagination or is your head unusually large?