IT’S SIX YEARS since the Hyundai i30 N emerged as a hot-hatch that finally convinced keen drivers that Korea could build a bona fide performance car. The Ioniq 5 N, however, has a different mission: to persuade highly sceptical petrolheads that an electric car can be similarly entertaining.
The regular-sized five-door and the oversized hatchback – or crossover if you prefer – share a mutual project leader: Albert Biermann. There’s some full-circle symmetry, too, as where the i30 N was the German’s first N car, the Ioniq 5 N will be the 66-year-old’s last before a belated retirement.
Biermann has a no-nonsense view on performance cars of the future: they will/must be electric and there’s little point mourning combustion engines.
The 5 N certainly looks the part. Its stance is aided by a 20mm lower ride height and 50mm wider body necessitated by the fitment of 275mm-wide Pirelli P Zero rubber.
Aerodynamics-focused appendages – front splitter and rear diffuser – add 80mm to the 5’s overall length and modify its silhouette
