2026 Hyundai N Vision 74: We Want It to Be Built. Bad.
An homage to the never-built 1974 Pony Coupe, the N Vision 74 brings the goods.
WHAT IT IS
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The N Vision 74 celebrates a Hyundai concept lost to time, the 1974 Pony Coupe concept designed by the legendary Giorgetto Giugiaro. Part retro, part race car in appearance, the N Vision 74 is a deeply personal project for Hyundai design chief SangYup Lee. "I've sketched N Vision 74 ideas for years," he says. "I was even sketching them on the plane to Korea, on my way to start at Hyundai. I wanted to create a car that celebrated Hyundai's roots."
WHY IT MATTERS
Although it was presented as one of Hyundai's "rolling lab" concept cars, the N Vision 74 has a lot of production or near-production hardware under its skin. The company is has reportedly decided to build it in limited volumes to showcase its hydrogen fuel cell technology and capability. Hyundai's construction equipment division is already building hydrogen-powered excavators, and the Hyundai Nexo is the only fuel cell car in production other than Toyota's Mirai. The company believes hydrogen will be a major transportation fuel by 2040, powering trucks, buses, and trams, as well as cars.
PLATFORM AND POWERTRAIN
Hyundai calls the N Vision 74 concept a hydrogen-electric hybrid vehicle because its powertrain uses electricity from both a hydrogen fuel cell and from a 62.4-kWh battery that can be plugged in and recharged just as in any normal electric vehicle. In city driving or freeway cruising, the 85-kW (net) fuel cell stack, the same unit as used in the Nexo fuel cell car, provides all the electricity needed to power two motors mounted at the rear wheels, one driving each wheel. On the track in high-load, high-demand conditions, the battery pack provides the bulk of the power to the motors.
ESTIMATED PRICE
Yes, we really want it, but we're not buying them. At what we believe to be a $160,000 price, will the well-heeled sports car crowd with cash to burn spend that much on a Hyundai? One that's a hydrogen-electric hybrid?
EXPECTED ON-SALE DATE
If something resembling what we've seen so far from Hyundai actually makes it to production, and we're hearing that it will, we wouldn't expect a production version of the N Vision 74 until calendar year 2026 at the earliest. What's unlikely are the wild race, rally, etc., versions we've rendered here. Still, we can dream—and we're willing to wait for whatever form the N Vision 74 takes.
I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t fascinated by cars. My father was a mechanic, and some of my earliest memories are of handing him wrenches as he worked to turn a succession of down-at-heel secondhand cars into reliable family transportation. Later, when I was about 12, I’d be allowed to back the Valiant station wagon out onto the street and drive it around to the front of the house to wash it. We had the cleanest Valiant in the world.
I got my driver’s license exactly three months after my 16th birthday in a Series II Land Rover, ex-Australian Army with no synchro on first or second and about a million miles on the clock. “Pass your test in that,” said Dad, “and you’ll be able to drive anything.” He was right. Nearly four decades later I’ve driven everything from a Bugatti Veyron to a Volvo 18-wheeler, on roads and tracks all over the world. Very few people get the opportunity to parlay their passion into a career. I’m one of those fortunate few.
I started editing my local car club magazine, partly because no-one else would do it, and partly because I’d sold my rally car to get the deposit for my first house, and wanted to stay involved in the sport. Then one day someone handed me a free local sports paper and said they might want car stuff in it. I rang the editor and to my surprise she said yes. There was no pay, but I did get press passes, which meant I got into the races for free. And meet real automotive journalists in the pressroom. And watch and learn.
It’s been a helluva ride ever since. I’ve written about everything from Formula 1 to Sprint Car racing; from new cars and trucks to wild street machines and multi-million dollar classics; from global industry trends to secondhand car dealers. I’ve done automotive TV shows and radio shows, and helped create automotive websites, iMags and mobile apps. I’ve been the editor-in-chief of leading automotive media brands in Australia, Great Britain, and the United States. And I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. The longer I’m in this business the more astonished I am these fiendishly complicated devices we call automobiles get made at all, and how accomplished they have become at doing what they’re designed to do. I believe all new cars should be great, and I’m disappointed when they’re not. Over the years I’ve come to realize cars are the result of a complex interaction of people, politics and process, which is why they’re all different. And why they continue to fascinate me.Read More
