Hyundai to develop hydrogen supercar for launch in 2026

Hyundai Motor Group, the global No. 3 automaker, is set to develop the world’s first hydrogen-powered supercar for launch in 2026 as the South Korean conglomerate looks to the hydrogen fuel ecosystem for future growth.

The group with two automakers – Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Corp. – plans to make a development mule in August of the supercar codenamed N74 equipped with an advanced hydrogen fuel cell dynamometer, and inheriting the design of the Pony Coupe, its first model introduced in 1974, industry sources said on Monday. A development mule is a testbed vehicle equipped with prototype components.

Hyundai Motor Group is scheduled to start mass production of the N74 in June 2026, It is being designed as a two-seater with gull-wing doors and equipped with a hydrogen fuel cell and a 70-kilowatt (kW) battery for a motor output of 570 kW, or higher than 775 horsepower, according to the sources.

The performance will be better than the N Vision 74, which has a 62.4 kW battery for an output of 500 kW, or 680 horsepower. It will also surpass the Ferrari Roma with 612 horsepower and the Lamborghini Huracán with 631 horsepower.

The N74, which is expected to accelerate to a hundred kilometers per hour from zero in about three seconds, aims to beat lap times of the existing supercars with internal combustion engines by circling the Nürburgring, a famous mountain circuit in Germany, more than twice at the maximum output.

The maker of the hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) NEXO crossover plans to produce and sell only 200 units of the N74, predicted to have a price tag of some 500 million won ($370,000), industry sources said.

“We were notified that the group plans to start mass production of the N74 in June 2026 with a schedule to manufacture only 100 units annually for two years,“ said an official at a Hyundai supplier.

SYMBOL OF HYDROGEN ECOSYSTEM

The N74 is a symbol of Hyundai Motor Group’s hydrogen ecosystem. The group aims to showcase its hydrogen technology by selling a supercar coveted by the public based on state-of-the-art hydrogen fuel cell technology.

The Namyang R&D center, the heart of the conglomerate’s global research and development network, last year provided specifications for the N74’s components to the group’s primary suppliers and asked them to work on R&D and production of parts for the N74’s development mule to be manufactured in the second half of 2024.

A mule is a drivable, sometimes pre-production vehicle often years away from realization and following a concept car that preceded the design of critical mechanical components. A mule or engineering development is not the same as a preproduction car because changes are constantly being made through the engineering development process.

Automakers manufacture a prototype car and pilot model after a development mule for a mass production vehicle.

Hyundai Motor Group’s primary suppliers have been working on the R&D for the N74’s parts since January.

“We aim to complete manufacturing of the components of the N74 by July and supply them to Hyundai Motor,” said another supplier official. Those contractors were reportedly supposed to supply parts for only a small production. 

N VISION 74

The N74 will be built based on the N Vision 74, a hydrogen fuel cell hybrid rolling lab – a vehicle designed for R&D and verification to be carried out before its high-performance motorsports technology is applied to a mass-production model – unveiled in July 2022.

The N Vision 74 has won the world’s four major design prizes including the Good Design Award, ramping up expectations for mass production in the global auto industry.

Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chairman Chung Euisun is keen on the N74 as the conglomerate plans to foster hydrogen energy as its next growth driver.

“It is said that the popularization of hydrogen is difficult. But we aim to make it with a sense of mission as someone has to do it and it will be taken away by someone if we don’t,” Chung said at the Consumer Electric Show (CES) 2024, the world’s largest annual tech trade show in Las Vegas in January.

Write to Jin-Won Kim at jin1@hankyung.com
 
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.