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Hyundai Motor Company: First time at the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este

Exciting: Although the event is actually hosted by BMW, this time Hyundai was also present at Lake Como with an (almost) current study: the N Vision 74 concept.

Buzzing instead of roaring: The "sound" of the Concept N74 sounded unusual amidst many pre-war veterans. | Photo: G. Soller
Buzzing instead of roaring: The "sound" of the Concept N74 sounded unusual amidst many pre-war veterans. | Photo: G. Soller
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It is the event of the truly beautiful and truly wealthy: The Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este at Lake Como. All the more we were surprised to see vehicles from Genesis with Offenbach license plates and individual Hyundai models driving in and out of the villa. A look in the underground garage then gave us certainty: There, the Koreans were struggling to park their study between two classic treasures, which, given the opulent dimensions, was a lengthy task of millimetric precision that took several minutes.

But the fact is: In the prototype class, Hyundai Motor exhibited its N Vision 74 concept and certainly achieved a notable success! The N Vision 74, first introduced in 2022, is a hydrogen fuel cell hybrid vehicle from Hyundai's N sports brand, whose design is inspired by the Pony Coupé Concept of legendary Italian designer Giorgetto Giugiaro from 1974 – thus Hyundai made a connection to Lake Como.

The N Vision 74 thus combines the design heritage of the Korean brand with modern technologies and the emotional high performance of Hyundai's N brand. The N Vision 74 utilizes a hydrogen fuel cell hybrid architecture that aims to combine the strengths of battery motor and hydrogen fuel cell systems. In the development, special emphasis was placed on high performance, ensuring a stable power output without the power drop typically occurring in conventional electric vehicles at low charge levels. Combined with a charging time of only 5 minutes, this hybrid architecture explores its high-performance potential as a fully functional "Rolling Lab".

The N Vision 74 features independent double motors on both sides of the rear wheels, enabling a performance of 680 PS and an acceleration of less than 4 seconds from 0 to 100 km/h. An 85-kW hydrogen fuel cell stack at the front, a 62-kWh lithium-ion battery between the driver and passenger, and two 2.1 kg hydrogen tanks at the rear provide a range of nearly 600 kilometers.

Hyundai's young heritage: After all, they are soon celebrating their 50th anniversary

Prior to its appearance at the Concorso d'Eleganza, the N Vision 74 was seen alongside a replica of the Pony Coupé Concept at the Hyundai Reunion at Lake Como, where the company's first heritage project was celebrated. With the exhibition of the retro-futuristic N Vision 74 at one of the world's three major classic car and concept car competitions, Hyundai Motor was able to draw attention to both its design heritage and its vision of sustainable performance technology.

"Participating in the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este is a great honor and speaks to the remarkable journey of Hyundai Motor thus far. But there is still so much more ahead of us," said Luc Donckerwolke, President and Chief Creative Officer of the Hyundai Motor Group. And SangYup Lee, Vice President and Head of the Hyundai Motor Design Center, remarked:

"It is a great honor to participate in such a prestigious event in Italy, the country that marked the beginning of our design heritage, as we uncover the roots of Hyundai's design DNA."

He added:

“The N Vision 74 is a homage to our efforts in the past and a commitment to our future. It continues the bold spirit of the Pony Coupé Concept in a futuristic design that realizes our engineers' dream of creating Korea's first true sports car.”

What does that mean?

By participating in the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este, Hyundai scores an initial (supported by BMW) notable success: The N Vision 74, which was awarded as an "Instant Icon" at the TopGear.com Awards 2022, reportedly seeks “the balance between cutting-edge technology and traditional design," according to Hyundai. It transfers the bold stance of the Pony Coupé Concept to a forward-looking Hyundai design.” And if you now spontaneously think of "Back to the Future" and DeLorean, you wouldn't be far off, which is why we would advise Hyundai: Please build it!

 

Translated automatically from German.
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