Hyundai to launch 1st all-electric high-performance IONIQ 5 N in 2023

South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co. said Friday it will launch its first all-electric high-performance IONIQ 5 N model in the domestic market next year.

Hyundai has strengthened the high-performance N brand and the N Line brand to compete with its bigger rivals in terms of performance cars.

The N models bring full performance capability to daily driving, while the N Line brings performance-inspired elements to base model vehicles. The N Line models sit between Hyundai's high-performance N brand and the general Hyundai brand.

In preparation for the IONIQ 5 N model's launch, Hyundai will operate two "rolling lab" concepts -- the RN22e battery-powered model and the hydrogen fuel-cell electric N Vision 74 model -- to collect data and test motorsport technologies, the company said in a statement.

On Friday, the company unveiled the two high-performance rolling lab models. Hyundai Motor's rolling lab vehicles are where it tests and verifies the company's advanced technologies to apply them to future production models.

"RN22e and N Vision 74 play an important role in the strategic development of our entire product lineup, especially our electrified, high-performance vehicles," Thomas Schemera, executive vice president and head of the Customer Experience Division at Hyundai Motor, said in the statement.

The IONIQ 5 N will be embedded with Hyundai Motor Group's dedicated EV-only electric global modular platform (E-GMP).

Hyundai models equipped with the E-GMP platform are the IONIQ 5 launched last year, the IONIQ 6 electric sedan to be released in September and the IONIQ 7 flagship SUV to be available in 2024.

Hyundai aims to raise its EV sales to over 1.8 million units in 2030 from 140,000 units in 2021. It targets to sell a total 4.32 million units this year.

In 2023, the maker of the Sonata sedan and the Santa Fe SUV is targeting to sell more than 50,000 EVs in major markets, such as Europe and the United States. (Yonhap)