First Sight: SangYup Lee dreams big with Hyundai N Vision 74

Late last week the wraps came off two more “rolling lab” concepts from Hyundai at a private unveil away from the Motor Show in Busan, South Korea. The first – called RN 22e – celebrates the success of Hyundai’s seven-years young sporty N sub-brand with a go-faster concept of the freshly unveiled Ioniq 6 production EV. It signals the first N-branded Ioniq EV to arrive in mid-2023 and Car Design News has already seen the production car in the metal under embargo.

Suffice to say, it looks fantastic and will be branded Ioniq 5 N. The other concept shown was the N Vision 74, which riffs off the Ioniq 5’s slim pixel-eyed front face combined with elements of the Giugiaro-designed 1974 Hyundai Pony Coupé concept silhouette, thus the ’74 in the 2022 prototype’s name.

The N Vision 74 clothes a hybrid powertrain of battery-electric and hydrogen fuel cell and is clearly the bigger deal for SangYup Lee, SVP of Hyundai global design, and for personal and aesthetic reasons, as he told the attended media in Busan. “I’ve done countless design presentations over the years but I’m most excited by this one,” he began, instantly dispensing with the cliché analogy that many designers routinely trot out, along the lines of being fathers who love all of their children equally.

And in reference to Hyundai’s now well-told ‘chess piece design strategy’ – in essence, starting with a similar base but creating different characters on top – he added: “This concept is the king in our chess set”.

He then went on to show how the N Vision 74 was inspired by the Pony Coupé concept, projecting both in silhouette for comparison on the big screen behind him. The N Vision 74 sports a similar side window graphic to the Pony Coupé but differentiates itself through a more curved, rather than straight-line bonnet, upright rather than angled front and rear ends, and most obviously under the B-pillar, through a large and graphically-distinct angular air scoop cutting into the flared rear wheel arch.

Solid but deep-dish wheels almost in body colour, a large and jutting front splitter and a huge black rear spoiler, complete the high-performance ingredients. Look closer and subtle colour accents highlight the car’s graphic elements really well, from the small red centre hub cap only on the rear 21” wheels (the front ones are 20”s), to the diagonal white pinstripes on the lower side sills and in the most rearward apex of the darkened side glass, echoing other diagonal body lines all over the car.

The car unveiled in Busan was a full-size mock-up, but exterior only, which is always a slight disappointment, but Lee explained that there is also a fully-working prototype too and the press release mentions an interior mixing old and new with a digital cluster and analogue buttons, perhaps a bit like Hyundai’s previous recent Heritage Pony and Grandeur ‘steampunk’ remixes.

Where Lee hopes the N Vision 74 might be different from those more historically-leaning Heritage tributes, is that aside from its ‘rolling lab’ role, it could one day make production. At 4952mm long, 1995mm wide, 1331mm high and on a 2905mm wheelbase, the N Vision 74 is a big coupé, just shy of a Maserati Ghibli in length, while wider and lower. But its modern 2020s electric powertrain combined with 70s-inspired design would certainly set it apart in that segment.

As Lee exclusively told CDN at a digital sneak preview back in May: “As a designer I will always ask to dream, and when you dream, dream big,” he said with a broad smile. “No-one else wanted to do the Ioniq 5 [in the company] but now you see it on the streets. There’s no production intention with the N Vision 74, but it’s based on the same package as the Genesis X Speedium Coupe and my dream is to make this through to production. No-one agrees with me in the company, so I need your help.” Over to you Hyundai management…