Hyundai may leap into the sports activities automotive wars, and rumors had been rampant this week that the N Imaginative and prescient 74 idea may quickly debut in manufacturing trim. If that occurs, Hyundai can be becoming a member of a section the place Chevy and Dodge are retrenching, and Ford, Nissan and Toyota are driving their present horses so long as potential. Provided that, it seems like a sensible play for Hyundai to take a calculated danger and make the N Imaginative and prescient 74 actual.
As a refresher, the N Imaginative and prescient 74 is an idea automotive that remembers the Giorgetto Giugiaro-designed Pony idea from 1974.
The brand new idea makes use of a two-motor hybrid setup powered by hydrogen and electrical energy, and its neo-wedge design left fans wagging their tongues when it was revealed final July. It will reduce by means of the litter of in the present day’s busy styling and convey one thing legitimately distinctive to the sports-car area. Hyundai may additionally choose to make the N Imaginative and prescient 74 the next efficiency and decrease quantity play.
For it to be life like, although, Hyundai has to drop the hydrogen. Except we take the corporate actually right here, it’s affordable to imagine that’s only for illustration. Relatively, Hyundai ought to make the N Imaginative and prescient 74 all-electric with the identical powertrains the Ioniq 5 and 6 run, particularly what will likely be within the Ioniq 5 N.
The N Imaginative and prescient 74 can be the uncommon alternative for Hyundai to showcase its historical past, which in the US is proscribed. The corporate legitimately has an idea automotive in its archives designed by the identical man who did the DeLorean and BMW M1. Not everybody can say that. Truly, hardly anybody can. A Giugiaro design means one thing, and reportedly Giorgetto’s son is concerned with the brand new challenge. Hyundai has leaned into its Pony heritage in recent times, saying plans to rebuild the idea final yr in partnership with Giugiaro. The Pony idea influenced Hyundai design all through the Nineteen Seventies and ’80s, and a few of its components appeared on the rear-wheel-drive Pony hatchback. Hyundai has additionally cited the idea’s lineage in its electrical hatch, the Ioniq 5. The unique 1974 idea was destroyed.
Hyundai has the well-received design and powertrain, so two key components are in place. And as we’ve established, there’s alternative with the primary rivals in a seeming holding sample. However may Hyundai actually pull it off?
There’s priority. Hyundai did this earlier than, and pretty nicely. The Genesis coupe (again when Genesis was nonetheless a Hyundai nameplate) launched in 2010 when the Mustang, Challenger and Camaro had been formidable. All three Detroit muscle automobiles would develop in efficiency for the remainder of the last decade. The Genesis coupe greater than held its personal for a couple of years, with a notchy although participating six-speed handbook, a spunky turbo 4 and highly effective V6. It caught round till 2016 and confirmed a sporty facet to an organization that had supplied fans little or no till that time. If the Hyundai of ‘08 may push forward with a sports-car challenge, the way more grown-up Hyundai of 2023 not solely can, however ought to.
Danger is relative. A sports activities automotive is hardly a necessity as of late. However an electrical sports activities automotive is greater than only a toy. It will get folks enthusiastic about your model and it’s good for picture. Hyundai’s sibling manufacturers have all taken comparable dangers, just like the Stinger rear-wheel drive sedan, and Genesis’ formidable technique to embrace hanging design and go all-in as a luxurious maker, slightly than play the worth card.
On this view, the better danger is doing nothing. Hyundai has the design, each previous and current. Individuals prefer it. And if the N Imaginative and prescient 74 isn’t greenlit, nicely another person goes to do one thing prefer it. There will likely be no scarcity of electrical sports activities automobiles within the coming years. Hyundai ought to make the N Imaginative and prescient 74 one among them.
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