Hyundai premieres IONIQ 6 N: Latest motorsport DNA for electric age

In a dramatic showing on the famed hill climb of West Sussex, Hyundai Motor Co. on Thursday debuted the IONIQ 6 N, its second high-performance electric vehicle under the N brand, at the 2025 Goodwood Festival of Speed, the UK’s largest and most prestigious car culture event.

Building on the success of the IONIQ 5 N, the new model signals the top South Korean automaker’s ambition to plant a firm stake in the future of electric motorsport – a space long dominated by Tesla’s Plaid series and Porsche’s Taycan.

According to Hyundai, the Ioniq 6 N combines race-grade performance with zero-emission credentials, continuing its push to redefine its global brand image through innovation and speed.

The sleek four-door EV features an 84-kWh battery, a dual-motor all-wheel-drive system and Hyundai’s latest torque distribution technology.

N GRIN BOOST

What sets the IONIQ 6 N apart is its “N Grin Boost” – a performance mode that temporarily elevates output to a jaw-dropping 478 kW, or about 650 horsepower, enough to launch the car from 0 to 100 kilometers an hour in just 3.2 seconds.

The boost feature, designed to offer a burst of speed on demand, is aimed squarely at track-day enthusiasts and drivers seeking visceral thrills without emissions, according to Hyundai.

Hyundai also unveiled the vehicle at its N Archive in Uiwang, a city just south of Seoul, underscoring its dual-market strategy: winning credibility among European performance car aficionados while reinforcing loyalty at home in Korea.

Hyundai’s N division, launched in 2015 and named after both Hyundai’s R&D center in Namyang and the Nürburgring test track, has become a laboratory for the automaker’s radical technologies.

Industry officials said the IONIQ 5’s performance is on par with that of Audi's high-performance RS line electric car, the RS e-tron GT, BMW's all-electric i4 M50 and the Porsche Taycan GTS.

Write to In-Soo Nam at isnam@hankyung.com

Jennifer Nicholson-Breen edited this article.