This Fan-Made Ioniq 5 N Group B Rally Monster Made Me Wish Hyundai Actually Built It

The Best Renders Aren’t Fantasy For Fantasy’s Sake — They Point At Something Real

Most car renderings are pure escapism, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But every so often a design exercise lands on something that feels less like fan fiction and more like a genuinely missed opportunity. Khyzyl Saleem’s Group B-inspired Hyundai Ioniq 5 N is exactly that kind of render, and the reason it works is that Hyundai’s actual motorsport pedigree makes the fantasy feel earned rather than arbitrary.

The Proportions Do The Heavy Lifting

Saleem’s bodykit adds a pronounced carbon splitter, vented hood LEDs, ultra-wide fender extensions with integrated cooling intakes, and flying buttresses over the C-pillars that deliberately echo the Lancia Delta S4 — a callback that works because the Ioniq 5’s greenhouse already carries faint Delta vibes on its own. Add a massive rear wing, an equally aggressive diffuser, Lexan windows, a roll cage, and black five-spoke wheels, and this reads less like a photoshop exercise and more like a genuine “special stage” build sheet.

The Engine Swap Is The Interesting Part

Here’s where the render gets more thoughtful than most: Saleem specifically wants the screaming turbocharged 1.6-liter four from Hyundai’s actual WRC rally car, presumably mounted mid-ship, swapping out the Ioniq 5 N’s electric powertrain entirely. That’s not a random power source pulled from nowhere — Hyundai’s WRC program is genuinely accomplished, with two Manufacturer’s titles (2019, 2020) via the i20 WRC and a Driver’s title in 2025 with Thierry Neuville.

The Numbers Actually Favor The EV, Which Is The Twist

Post-regulation-change, Rally1 turbo engines are capped at 375 hp with the hybrid boost removed. The road-going Ioniq 5 N’s dual electric motors make 641 hp — meaningfully more than the combustion engine Saleem wants to swap in. That’s a genuinely interesting inversion: the render is chasing the sound and drama of combustion power, not more actual performance, which says something honest about what enthusiasts are really mourning as EVs take over performance segments. It’s not the numbers. It’s the theater.

This Is Part Of A Bigger Collaboration

Worth noting this isn’t a one-off — it’s part of an ongoing partnership between Hyundai USA and Saleem, who previously reimagined the Santa Fe as a Baja-inspired build. Hyundai is clearly using these renders to gauge enthusiast reaction to wilder ideas without committing engineering budget to them, which is a pretty savvy way to crowdsource inspiration.

My Take

This will almost certainly stay in the digital world, and that’s fine — not every great idea needs to become a production car. But the fact that Hyundai has a genuine WRC-winning turbo engine sitting in its own back catalog, paired with a hot hatch shape that already flirts with rally-car proportions, makes me wish more manufacturers treated their motorsport heritage as design inspiration rather than a marketing footnote. Hyundai’s clearly sitting on more raw material for something like this than most brands doing similar renders elsewhere.

If Hyundai ever did build a genuinely GT4-legal or rally-spec Ioniq 5 N, would you rather it kept the EV powertrain or went full combustion for the theater of it? I go back and forth on this one myself.