Is The Hyundai Palisade N Just An April Fool's Prank?

Hyundai gave us a teasing look into the Palisade N, a high-performance rendition of its newest midsize SUV. The South Korean automaker went to Instagram on April Fool's day and posted a few renderings of the Palisade N. Is this all just a prank, or are we seeing the much-awaited second N model from Hyundai after the Veloster N?

According to Hyundai, sharing ideas instead of jokes is the theme for April Fool's Day, and it's done a fabulous job. Frankly, the Hyundai Palisade offers outstanding value in the midsize luxury SUV segment. It has up to eight seats, plenty of new technology, a cosseting ride, and acres of room for passengers and cargo – all the necessary elements of a great family SUV.

But if you give it the N treatment, it morphs from a family hauler to a barnstorming leviathan with quad tailpipes and a cool blue paint job. In fact, it's finished in the same Performance Blue paint as the Veloster N. Sporty touches include brilliant red accents on the rear diffuser, side skirts, and front splitter. Oh, and it also has a rear decklid spoiler with a small, triangular third brake light in the middle like in a Formula One car.

The entire vehicle sits closer to the ground and is shod with larger and wider wheels and high-performance rubber. Both are needed to harness the power from an uprated engine. The Hyundai Palisade is powered by a 3.8-liter V6 engine producing 291 horsepower and 262 pound-feet of torque. While it has enough power to move briskly under full load, the N model needs something with more vigor.

Nothing is official yet, but what's stopping Hyundai from shoehorning a tuned version of the twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6 engine from the Genesis GV80? In this configuration, we reckon the motor should churn out 420 horsepower and upwards of 390 pound-feet of torque, making it the perfect engine for Palisade N. Combined with a revised eight-speed automatic transmission, stiffer suspension, and all-wheel drive, the Palisade N is destined to be a scorcher.

However, let's not get ahead of ourselves. The Hyundai Palisade N exists solely in the virtual world, and there's no indication if Hyundai will put it to production anytime soon. The company also released some renderings of a Nexo N variant, and it also looks amazing. But then again, the Nexo is an electric crossover powered by hydrogen fuel cells, so the Palisade N is closer to reality at this point.