If you’d have told us a decade ago that Hyundai would soon launch a 641bhp electric performance car that was genuinely brilliant to drive, and then do a special edition of it developed by one of the forefathers of drifting, we’d have told you to lay off the camembert before bed. But here we are, in 2025, with the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N DK Edition.
That’s not Donkey Kong (although that’d make for an interesting special edition too), but Drift King, the alias of Keiichi Tsuchiya. There’s a good chance you’re familiar with him if you’re reading this website, but if not, he’s a Japanese racing driver who was instrumental in helping to bring the sport of drifting to the mainstream.
Hyundai Ioniq 5 N DK Edition – rear
In other words, he knows how to make a car go sideways, which is why it’s so exciting that this special edition Ioniq 5 N has been developed with his input.
The DK Edition has apparently been set up to Tsuchiya’s liking and comes with some fairly significant hardware changes. A set of 21-inch forged wheels save a total of 10.6kg in unsprung mass, and a new set of six-piston monoblock brakes increase the front pad contact area by 54 per cent. A set of H&R lowering springs developed to work alongside the 5 N’s electronically-controlled dampers, drop the ride height by 15mm.
Keiichi Tsuchiya with Hyundai Ioniq 5 N DK Edition
Tsuchiya and Hyundai have gone to town on the aero too, with a new front splitter, side skirts, rear diffuser and rear wing all said to have a meaningful impact on the car’s downforce.
There’s no word on any performance tweaks, but with its two motors making 641bhp in its spiciest setting and a 3.4-second 0-62mph time, the regular 5 N was hardly wanting for poke.
Keiichi Tsuchiya with Hyundai Ioniq 5 N DK Edition
Similarly, we don’t know if the motors and their clever torque vectoring systems have had any alterations for maximum oversteery silliness, or whether Tsuchiya’s input is all in the hardware. Again, though, the 5 N’s already a decent skid merchant as it is.
When we saw the DK Edition teased the other day, we weren’t sure if it was going to be an actual production car or just a one-off attention-grabber for the Tokyo Auto Salon. The good news is that it turns out it’s the former, and the DK Edition’s going on sale. The bad news is that, so far, it’s only been confirmed for Japan and South Korea. We’ll add it to the increasingly long list of things we want to import, then.
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