Hyundai N wants to put retro sports car concept into production

Will Hyundai soon reveal a production version of the N Vision 74 rolling lab concept?

An announcement of a road-going version of the Hyundai N Vision 74 rolling lab concept has seemingly been on and off over the last few months, though recent remarks from the head of Hyundai N suggest there’s still hope for the racy retro-looking coupe.

Hyundai N vice president Till Wartenberg told CarExpert he personally wishes to see “that car in the near future on the street”. He added, however, “it needs a lot of discussion”.

“It needs to have and meet certain criteria to make it possible,” said Mr Wartenberg.

This latest comment follows after Hyundai Motor Company America senior manager of product and advanced powertrain PR told Carscoops in May the company “has no plan to put the model into commercial production“.

The Hyundai N Vision 74 rolling lab concept was first revealed in July last year, alongside the RN22e rolling lab concept that was dressed up as an Ioniq 6 and informed what eventually became the recently revealed Ioniq 5 N.

In essence the N Vision 74 concept is a battery-electric car with what shapes as a sort of hydrogen range extender, wrapped in retro styling.

It has dual, rear-mounted electric motors producing over 500kW of power and over 900Nm of torque, along with a hydrogen fuel stack producing a maximum of 95kW to charge the battery. Top speed is claimed to be over 250km/h.

There’s a 62.4kWh battery capable of 800W fast-charging, and a 4.2kg hydrogen tanks that can be refuelled in five minutes. That’s a considerably larger battery than the Toyota Mirai, which combines a 5.6kg hydrogen tank with a 1.2kWh lithium-ion battery.

Hyundai claims the N Vision 74 concept’s driving range is over 600km.

“[The N Vision 74 rolling lab concept] does reflect all we want to with Hyundai and overall because it is the technological lighthouse for our company,” said Mr Wartenberg.

“We do work with advanced technologies and the N Vision 74 is one of the cars which is just executing that direction perfectly.”

Although the N Vision 74 concept retains the fundamental silhouette and unique B-pillar of the original Pony Coupe concept from 1974, it has a number of motorsports-inspired additions such as a low front splitter, swollen wheel arches, retro-looking aero disc wheels, rear diffuser, and a large rear wing.

It’s expected a lot of these design elements will be dialled down for a production version if it happens.

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