Hyundai N boss wants to make a small, light electric performance car – could an Inster N be on the horizon?

Hyundai recently revealed the new Ioniq 6 N, an electric performance saloon with 650hp and a drift mode for maximum hooliganism on the track. It joins the Ioniq 5 N as the brand’s second electric performance car, and we went along to the reveal in June to see it in person.

While we were there we had the opportunity to sit down with Joon Park – the man in charge of the brand’s N Performance division – who told us he wants to build smaller, lighter and more agile EVs in the future.

Will there be a Hyundai Inster N?

It’s a good question, because Hyundai has come up with a couple of concepts over the last few months which would suggest it’s planning to give its smallest, cutest electric car the full N treatment.

In late 2024 it unveiled the RN24 – a mad-looking concept which shares the Inster’s proportions and a bit of its front fascia. It’s what Hyundai calls a “rolling laboratory”, which is essentially a test bed for future technology, just like the RN22e which foreshadowed the Ioniq 6 N.

It’s been developed using the Ioniq 5 N’s dual motor setup and Hyundai’s 10 years of experience in the world of rallying to create a 650hp drift machine, and it’s designed to test some new control software which mimics the handling characteristics of an i20 rally car.

Fast forward a few months and we got the Insteroid concept, another bonkers-looking thing based on the Inster. It was just a design exercise, but one which ignited fresh hope that a beefed-up Inster was on the horizon.

A production version of the Inster N wouldn’t look quite this insane, but it could share design elements such as the bonnet vents and a toned-down version of the wing. We’ve created some exclusive images to show what this dinky electric hot hatch could look like.

We asked Park if a Hyundai Inster N was coming, and he said: “The rolling lab shows possibilities and future direction, and the direction I want to go is to lighter, agile, nimble EV performance cars.”

“But as for Inster N, the RN24 looks similar because we used the smallest car’s front fascia and the rear design theme. The Inster design components show that we want to have a small (performance) EV.”

The RN24 concept is actually slightly bigger than the Inster because it packs in the Ioniq 5 N’s battery – although it’s actually “folded in half” in this car to make it fit. An actual small performance electric car from Hyundai wouldn’t share parts from other, larger models as the main focus would be to make it lighter. But it won’t be easy, as Park explains.

“A small car with a small battery and proper performance takes a lot of investment to develop, and we need to take several more steps to develop a car like this with the proper powerband as well as the proper pricing.

“Becuase I love smaller and lighter cars, if we can can make a lighter EV then we can offset all of those EV haters comments.”

So Hyundai is dead set on reversing the stigma that electric cars can’t be fun, and a smaller, lighter EV hot hatch could be on the cards in the coming years. It just won’t necessarily be a hot version of the Inster.

Hyundai not turning its back on petrol power

When Hyundai discontinued the i20 and i30 N hot hatches, many people took that as a sign that petrol-powered performance models from the brand were dead.

Park told us he has both a Hyundai Elantra N, a saloon car sold overseas with a 2.0-litre petrol engine, as well as an Ioniq 5 N, and he enjoys both power options.

“We’re not limiting ourselves to only EVs,” Park told Carwow “I don’t know where that came from, we didn’t say anything about going 100% EV.”

He told us that he thinks people assumed after the Ioniq 5 N was revealed that internal combustion N cars were no more, but it seems that Park is a devoted petrolhead who doesn’t want to turn his back on fossil fuels just yet.

There’s no word on when, or if, a new petrol-powered N car could come to the UK. The Elantra N saloon soldiers on elsewhere in the world, but that’s unlikely to come to our shores. Perhaps the i30 N could make a comeback with a cleaner engine.

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