Hyundai's RN22e Concept is our First Taste of an Electrified N Car

Photo: Hyundai

Hyundai’s N brand has been making raucous, exciting performance cars for years. In all that time, however, the company has focused its efforts on a single drivetrain: A 276-horsepower turbocharged four cylinder, mated to either a six-speed stick or an 8-speed DCT. But as the arc of the moral universe bends towards electrification, we’ve all had to wonder — what will Namyang’s finest look like in the age of the EV?

Hyundai gave us the first peek at an answer last night, with the Ioniq 6-based RN22e concept. The verdict? With big wings, big fenders, and big power, N cars in the electrified era look like an absolute riot.

Photo: Hyundai

The RN22e borrows much of its body from the Ioniq 6, and the two also share Hyundai’s E-GMP electric platform. But while the Ioniq 6 gets a mere 320 horsepower and 446 lb-ft of torque, the RN22e gets just a touch more: 576 horsepower, and 545 lb-ft of torque.

To slow a battery-laden four-door down after it uses that horsepower, the RN22e needs some sizable brakes. The concept, however, only wears four-piston calipers — Hyundai intends to fill in the rest with regenerative braking that “precisely controls yaw and corner attack.” Your guess is as good as mine with what that means in practice.

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Photo: Hyundai

The RN22e gets torque-vectored AWD, and Hyundai claims drivers can “choose the torque power on the front and rear wheels.” While the specifics weren’t clearly defined, the kind of tire-smoking drifts displayed in Hyundai’s promo photos would require a vast majority of torque going to the rear — if any in the front.

The RN22e isn’t intended for production, but will see use as a “rolling lab” to test the performance chops of Hyundai’s electric E-GMP platform. With any luck, that testing will lead to N-branded EVs actually landing on showroom floors.