New Hyundai Ioniq 5 N ‘Drift King’ edition (and its massive rear wing) unveiled at Tokyo Auto Salon
Hyundai has created a limited-edition Ioniq 5 N with legendary racing driver Keiichi Tsuchiya, aka the Drift King
The new Hyundai Ioniq 5 N DK Edition has been unveiled at the 2025 Tokyo Auto Salon. It manages to make the already rather menacing 641bhp hyper-hatch look even angrier, but also makes enhancements to its exceptional chassis.
The Ioniq 5 N DK Edition was created in collaboration and developed with legendary racing driver Keiichi Tsuchiya, who some will know better as the ‘Drift King’, hence the car’s name.
The most serious upgrade Tsuchiya made to our reigning Performance Car of the Year is a new monoblock brake system, which includes six-piston calipers precision-machined from Duralumin – an aluminum alloy often used in aircraft manufacturing because of its strength and lightness.
The larger calipers allowed for new high-performance brake pads that are 54 per cent larger than stock. The result, according to the Drift King himself, is “reliable braking performance even in the most demanding environments”.
The Ioniq 5 N DK Edition also gets a set of lowering springs from German outfit H&R, which bring the car 15mm closer to the Tarmac, lower the centre of gravity further, and are stiffer than the standard coils to improve handling on track. Meanwhile, 21-inch forged alloy wheels reduce unsprung weight by 10.6kg and are wider than the standard rims.
Then there’s the visual changes, which include the enormous carbon fibre rear wing that’s as wide as the car and sits on top of the Ioniq 5 N’s existing twin-fin roof spoiler. The DK Edition also gets a new front splitter, rear diffuser and extended side skirts, all made from carbon fibre and focused on increasing downforce, driving range be damned.
Elsewhere, the white matt paint is contrasted by lots of gloss-black exterior trim, plus dark green accents around the car and the large ‘DK Edition’ logo on the rear quarter panel.
Hyundai hasn’t made any changes to the powertrain, though it probably didn’t need to as the Ioniq 5 N already delivers 641bhp and 740Nm of torque from its dual motors, plus all-wheel drive and a 3.4-second 0-62mph time.
Standard kit also includes an ‘N Drift Optimiser’ that is supposed to help maintain balance in powerslides by managing the power distribution. There are 10 levels of driver-assistance and an additional ‘Pro’ mode, which we’re surprised hasn’t been renamed as the ‘Drift King’ mode for the DK edition.
The Hyundai Ioniq 5 N DK Edition is due to go on sale in the first half of 2025 in Korea and Japan, however there’s no word yet on whether it’ll come to our shores.
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