We thought they weren’t going to focus on EVs anymore. Oh well, we suppose the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N and Ioniq 6 N are niche, exclusive special cases and hardly mainstream. Hyundai Motor Malaysia (HMY) announced at a Chinese New Year dinner last night that Malaysians can expect these two critically-acclaimed machines in this year’s second quarter. Malaysia is no stranger to Hyundai’s N performance brand – previous distributor Hyundai-Sime Darby Motors launched the RM300k i30 N back in 2019 and previewed the Ioniq 5 N in 2024, stopping short of launching it as the principal takeover happened just the following year. Let’s revisit the hot 800V E-GMP pair. The Ioniq 5 N is 50 mm wider and 20 mm lower than the regular Ioniq 5. It has wider tyres, beefier brakes with red callipers, a rear electronic limited-slip diff (e-LSD) and a stiffer chassis, including 42 additional weld points and more body adhesive. Also strengthened are the electric motor, battery mounts, and front and rear sub-frames. The two-motor AWD powertrain gives you a total of 609 PS and 740 Nm of torque for a 3.5-second 0-100 km/h time. Not enough? Engage N Grin Boost and for 10 seconds, you get 650 PS, 770 Nm and a 3.4-second century sprint time. Top speed is 260 km/h (75 km/h faster than the regular car). An 84-kWh lithium-ion battery delivers up to 448 km of WLTP range. Cucuk a 350 kW DC charger and you’ll go from 10-80% in 18 minutes. Features include N Drift Optimiser (makes you a drift hero), N Torque Distribution (11 levels of front-rear adjustment), N Brake Regen (up to 0.6g of deceleration), N e-shift (simulates gearchanges) and N Active Sound + (aural stimulation via eight inside speakers and two outside speakers). Next, the Ioniq 6 N, which debuted globally last July – the streamliner takes everything from the 5 N, but because it’s lighter, it’s faster to 100 km/h (3.2 seconds). Bizarrely however, its top speed is slightly lower at 257 km/h. The motors get upgraded magnets and a rotor cooling structure to reduce derating, while N Battery keeps the 84 kWh battery’s temperatures in check. A trick new feature is the N Track Manager, which allows drivers to analyse their on-track performance. They can create custom circuits and have the system then perform automatic lap timings, after which they can pore over their speed data, check how they performed across the lap and even watch a ghost car replay, Gran Turismo style. The Ioniq 5 N was launched in Thailand in 2024 for 3.79 million baht (RM478k), but performance cars have always been expensive in Thailand (for instance, the Civic Type R costs four million baht there, which is over RM100k more than what you’d have to cough up here), so we hope Malaysia’s car won’t be that heavy on the wallet. We’ll know for sure in Q2. Excited? Hyundai Ioniq 5 N previewed in Malaysia (again) Hyundai Malaysia 2026 presentation slides Compare prices between different insurer providers to save the most on your car insurance renewal compared to other competing services. Many payment method supported and you can pay with instalment using Atome, Grab PayLater or Shopee SPayLater.