The Hyundai Ioniq 5 N Is Now the World’s Most Influential EV

Tesla invented the modern EV. A skateboard platform with a lithium-ion battery pack in the middle and an electric motor at one end—or both ends—wrapped in swoopy four-door hatchback bodywork with a minimalist, screen-dominated interior. These key design and engineering elements of the original Tesla Model S resonate through dozens of EVs these days.

The Model S was the template for the modern electric vehicle Version 1.0, its essential rationality and functionality embraced today not just by Chinese newcomers but also by legacy automakers such as GM and Hyundai, Porsche and Mercedes-Benz. But the world is moving on. The modern electric vehicle Version 2.0 is here, and it’s a much more eclectic beast as the EV market adapts to include new genres and archetypes.

The new EV can be front-, rear-, or all-wheel drive, with two, three, or even four motors. It can be a small city runabout, a large luxury car, a family-friendly SUV, a rock-climbing 4x4, a minivan, or a high-performance car, with platforms and powertrains to suit and increasingly exuberant exterior styling that’s moved beyond the autocracy of the aero blob. The evolution of high-performance EV is perhaps the most interesting, because it attempts to square a circle most hardcore enthusiasts believe is impossible: creating an EV that’s interesting and involving to drive.

Power is not the problem, as evidenced by cars like the 2,011-hp Lotus Evija, the 2,078-hp Rimac Nevera R, and the ridiculous 2,978-hp Yangwang U9 Xtreme. But most fast and powerful EVs are or were one-dimensional cars whose party trick is light-switch-quick acceleration and little else.

The Hyundai Ioniq 5 N changed all that.

I first drove a 5 N prototype on the snow and ice in Arjeplog, Sweden, in early 2023, and was blown away. I’ve liked the regular Ioniq 5 from the outset: crisp and sophisticated styling, a roomy interior, punchy performance on the road, and an 800-volt electrical architecture that facilitated fast charging—and all at an affordable price—and made it one of the few EVs I’d consider owning. But the 5 N was on another level. It was seriously fast, but, more important, it was the first EV that felt like a serious driver’s car.

Engine noise? Gearshifts? It had those things. It was all fake, of course, the clever software in the Hyundai’s special N mode at work, software that among other things also allows drivers to set the car’s powertrain for drifting or to manually adjust the 50/50 front/rear torque split. I realized Hyundai had unlocked something special with the Ioniq 5 N.

Tesla engineers had used scraps of the Model S’ massive computing power to generate fart noises, the tonk-tonk-tonk of the Saturday Night Live cowbell sketch, and a rainbow road graphic on the dash—snickering frat-boy nonsense. But Hyundai, under the direction of former BMW M boss Albert Biermann, employed the endless cascades of bits and bytes and the ability of electric motors to deliver precise control of power and torque at each axle to create a toolkit enthusiastic drivers could use, not just to change the way the car performed but also the way it could be driven.

I remember talking excitedly with Biermann over lunch in Sweden about how much of a game changer I thought the 5 N was. EVs had made the internal combustion horsepower war that had ultimately spawned cars like the 1,578-hp Bugatti Chiron Super Sport irrelevant. And now, this Hyundai EV promised to shift the 21st century driving enthusiast’s focus away from 0–60 acceleration and top-speed bragging rights and toward the impact of highly customizable software-defined vehicle dynamics and driver engagement systems.

Of course, left to its own devices, the Hyundai could be hustled down the road with impressive pace and composure. But allowing the driver to make decisions other than just when to steer and brake and accelerate, even if it meant the Ioniq 5 N may ultimately be slower over any given stretch of tarmac? This was the EV equivalent of Porsche putting a manual transmission back in the 911.

In the months after driving the car, I talked about its terrific driver engagement ideas with, among others, Mercedes-AMG CEO Michael Schiebe and Ferrari development test driver Raffaele de Simone. And I was fascinated to learn recently that both automakers had indeed tested Ioniq 5 Ns during the development of their new Mercedes-AMG GT 4 Door Coupe and Ferrari Luce EVs.

In certain power and performance modes, the AMG wraps its state-of-the-moment electric powertrain in old-school ICE stylings, from a V-8 soundtrack digitized from recordings of actual AMG engines to fake gearshifts that replicate the feel and duration of those of the AMG Speedshift nine-speed wet-clutch automated manual. It’s a clear adaptation of the 5 N driver-engagement template. Ferrari engineers admit the Ioniq also informed development of the Luce’s paddle-controlled regenerative braking and torque-limitation system.

Until recently the idea that a Hyundai would be used as a test and development benchmark by AMG and Ferrari would have been unthinkable. But the Ioniq 5 N has unquestionably helped shape some of the key ideas underpinning the development of Version 2.0 halo EVs for both these storied brands. That’s why it’s the most influential EV in the world.