2026 Hyundai Ioniq 6 N Prototype Drive: More N-Credible EV Performance

Motor Trend

a day ago

'Now we will turn it to N mode, and you can use the paddles.' The instruction comes from the development driver who's coached us patiently around a section of the 'little Ring' in a camoed-up prototype of the new 2026 Hyundai Ioniq 6 N super sport sedan. Roger. Can do.
The 2026 Hyundai Ioniq 6 N is an all-electric sports sedan featuring a 601 hp powertrain, new software upgrades, and enhanced handling. It offers improved performance and agility, with a focus on electrification and software integration, priced around $75,000, available early 2026.
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'Downshifting' into an interminably wide hairpin, the tach swings upward and the 'engine' wails as we brake hard, turn in, and wait—and wait (did we mention wait?)—for the final apex before getting back on the 'gas' and upshifting. Whoops—we jump on it too hard coming out of the corner, and the tail wags a little wide. No worries. Just lift a bit, regain grip, and we're back on it, working the paddles through an uphill sweeper as a sonic symphony of software-generated noise fills the cabin with every simulated upshift.
We've been gleefully ripping around in the new Ioniq 6 N at Area C, part of Hyundai's sprawling Namyang, South Korea, R&D facility. No, it's not some super hush hush Area 51–style bunker, but rather it's the circuit (modeled in spots after Germany's famed Nürburgring) and development, uh, area, where Hyundai went about birthing its N performance vehicle arm roughly a decade ago. It's also where we're getting our first official taste test of the 2026 Ioniq 6 N, its latest madcap creation. Using What Made the Ioniq 5 N Great
The Ioniq 6 N is the all-electric-powered second act to one of the most impressive performance vehicles we've experienced in several years, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N. Yes, it cribs many of the elements that made the 5 N such grin-shift-inducing fun and a MotorTrend Best Tech award winner. But it's also poised to make its own mark thanks to several primarily software-based upgrades that build on those of its SUV progenitor.
As for the new 6 N's powertrain, Hyundai has yet to provide us with its exact specs (those should be in the offing shortly along with more in-depth details as part of the car's full unveiling), but we expect it to be roughly the same setup as in the 5 N, employing permanent-magnet motors at both axles and e-juice delivered to them via an 84-kWh battery pack. In the Ioniq 5 N, the front motor produces 273 hp and 273 lb-ft of torque, while the rear makes 406 hp and 295 lb-ft, good for totals of 601 hp (or 641 with 10 seconds of N Grin Boost engaged) and 568 lb-ft. As with all of Hyundai's EVs, the car also uses a version of the company's high-performance 800-volt system and E-GMP platform underpinnings.
One piece of new hardware, however, that's easy to spot despite the prototype camo is the 6 N's fixed, swan-neck-style wing fitted to the rear deck, a piece Hyundai says provides roughly 220 pounds of total combined downforce at 155 mph. Body-wise, there are a few other small callouts specific to the model, notably wider fenders (1.2 inches) than the base Ioniq 6 and a wheelbase lengthened by 0.6 inch, all primarily to better fit the 20-inch wheels and the wide 275/35R20 Pirelli P Zero Elect tires tuned for the car. Messing With Success in a Good Way
Outside of the hot laps, we also spent some time in the 2026 Hyundai Ioniq 6 N prototype blasting back and forth and back again on a coned-off course. The goal was to showcase its newly updated capabilities, like engaging its stupid-easy launch control to get a sense of the changes to Hyundai's wildly impressive performance N-hancements, namely to its N e-Shift and N Active Sound+ modes.
When we first experienced these software hijinks in the 5 N, we had to collectively glue our blown minds back together. (There were some crusty skeptics on staff, to be fair: Hi, Aaron Gold!). While not as novel as it once was, it was no less intoxicating when we launched the Ioniq 6 N with all the N modes engaged. The Hyundai team also added an upgraded external speaker to bring more drama to these proceedings under hard acceleration, and it continues to further synchronize and enhance the overall experience.
We chatted with the team directly involved in modding the N software, and these folks are determined to make the 6 N feel like its own thing, making adjustments such as shortening the N e-Shift system's 'gear ratios' to bring more explosiveness. After our blasts down the straight, with the new N ambient shift lights in the instrument panel and head-up display flashing furiously, chassis bucking on upshifts, and high-pitched, motorsports-inspired 'engine' wailing inside and the car out, we say mission largely accomplished.
Speaking of explosiveness, during MotorTrend testing of the Ioniq 5 N, we clocked it at 2.8 seconds to 60 mph (an SUV record at the time), and from our seat-of-the-pants-on-fire perspective, the 6 N should be at least that quick, probably quicker. It should also stop shorter than the 5 N's 102 foot 60–0-mph number, given it uses the same brakes and should be lighter than its stablemate.
It should be more agile than the 5 N, too. The 6 N already has inherent advantages given its lower center of gravity and far more aerodynamic profile, and that's before you add updates such as a new set of semi-adaptive dampers to its electronically controlled suspension and a massaging of its torque-vectoring system. These items are among several adjustments the N engineering team made, chief among them lowering the car's roll center to aid with overall maneuverability. 'It's the predictability,' Manfred Harrer, Hyundai's executive vice president of R&D, says about what the team aimed for with the 6 N. 'You can immediately go fast; there's a level of confidence to immediately go on the limit,'
While we won't be able to know for sure how much the changes benefit the 6 N until we actually test it, after our track time, the straight-line blasts, and some slalom work at Namyang, we'll be stunned if it doesn't perform better dynamically than the 5 N, as well.
We'll be equally stunned if it doesn't perform at least marginally better from a battery life and motor perspective. Hyundai's goal with its N EVs is to deliver 20:20:20, as in 20 minutes of hard track work, 20 minutes charging, and then another 20 back on the track at full tilt. To that end, more adjustments are made to the battery's cooling system to better keep it in the ideal temperature zone, along with adjustments to the motor's stator, rotor, and housing. How Well Does It Do ' Deuripeu-Teu '?
The last stop of the day was out at Area C's skidpad to do some deuripeu-teu —drifting in Korean (at least that's what Google says it translates to). Our test driver (Hyundai wouldn't let us try it because of some crashing prior to our go behind the wheel, or something) preferred to set the also-improved N Drift Optimizer to the highest level of the three levels of initiation and the nine (out of 10) settings for slip angle and wheelspin.
And spin we did around the wet skidpad circle. We swung onto some other paved bends into and out of the main circle, drifting along almost nonchalantly (dude, I won't tell everyone you spun once, too, oh wait). He also used the paddles to shift while doing so, something the Hyundai team has worked to integrate into various settings as of late. (You can now also use the paddles in Eco mode, for instance.)
It was a fitting capstone to a day that further illuminated not only how much passion and commitment Hyundai invests in its N program but also how the power of electrification and software can combine to deliver a new performance era. Because after our first taste of the 2026 Hyundai Ioniq 6 N, it's more of the same N magic, only better—an experience even the most jaded of car enthusiasts will have a difficult time not getting behind.