Hyundai moves toward rear-drive electric performance cars

Fans of Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore rear-wheel drive dynamics could soon get ‘two turning and two burning’ behind the wheel of a Hyundai N or next-gen Kia Stinger producing more than 400kW.

But they will be electrified, not V8 petrol suckers.

That’s the direction pointed to by Hyundai Motor Group’s research and development chief Albert Biermann, who was vice-president of BMW’s high-performance M division before joining Hyundai Motor Group in 2015.

Speaking during the media introduction of the dedicated E-GMP battery-electric vehicle platform this morning, Biermann enthused about the sporting ambitions of the modular platform, which has rear-motor rear-wheel drive as its default set-up.

E-GMP will also be offered with a dual-motor all-wheel drive set-up with a disconnect function that will allow power and torque to be funnelled to the rear wheels only.

“The starting point for vehicles based on E-GMP is already pretty powerful and this is a very substantial platform,” said Biermann, explaining the preference for RWD or front-wheel drive.

“If you look at this platform with its huge tyres this is wonderful basis for very good-looking design.

“So the power levels already being pretty high in the two-wheel drive application … so to deliver in all aspects of driving and performance we thought it’s the right way to put the main motor on the rear axle.

“This can also be a lot of fun.”

During the presentation Biermann also revealed the E-GMP powertrain had the capability to produce “almost 600hp”, or 447kW, a number no internal combustion or electrified Hyundai or Kia vehicle currently gets close to.

Hyundai had already revealed the fastest models could accelerate from 0-100km/h in 3.5sec and top out at 260km/h.

Hyundai doesn’t currently make a rear-wheel drive car in mainstream or performance N guise, while the Kia Stinger has been the closest thing to an affordable RWD sports sedan sold in Australia since the end of Falcon and Commodore production in 2016 and 2017 respectively.

Hyundai’s luxury brand Genesis offers RWD further up the price scale and will get involved in electrification too.

Biermann said Hyundai would start previewing high-performance E-GMP models in 2021.

The car-maker has already teased its EV performance aspirations with this year’s 596kW Hyundai RM20e concept (pictured).

“We will show you a vehicle already next year that maybe at that point as a prototype we will demonstrate the performance level and the power level of the E-GMP platform,” he revealed.

“We are working already on vehicle concepts with high performance and we are considering N high-performance cars,” Biermann added when quizzed further.

“So we are working on this for quite some time and preparing for a very emotional battery-electric driving experience in Hyundai, but maybe also in Kia and also in Genesis.”

Biermann confirmed Croatian supercar maker Rimac was not involved in HMG’s high-performance plans for E-GMP.

He also praised the efficiency of the E-GMP powertrain and appeared to have a veiled dig at Porsche’s repeatability claims for its Taycan EV on the way through.

“I wish we could have a real event in Korea at this time then we could have presented a very powerful prototype to you and give you some dragster runs comparing with our competitors that you can get an idea of how powerful the E-GMP platform is and how substantial it can be,” he said.

“I wish to have a competition where we do 20 or 30 acceleration runs and then charging again, that the battery is at 100 per cent again. I would think at this point probably nobody could beat us in such competition.”

During the presentation it was also confirmed the scope of E-GMP would stretch from compact models to eventually encompass seven-seat SUVs the size of the Hyundai Palisade large SUV. It will also underpin a robotaxi.

The first E-GMP models to roll out in 2021 will be the IONIQ 5 from the new Hyundai sub-brand and the Kia CV crossover.