Hyundai i30 To Spawn New N Performance Brand
As far as letters go, they don’t come more important than “M” when talking about the automotive world.
Most of you are probably aware of BMW’s M performance division, but you may not know that the former head of that division is now overseeing the N performance brand being created at Hyundai.
The Hyundai N division will be creating performance vehicles for that brand, as well as for sister company Kia.
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Hyundai i30N
The first Hyundai performance car to carry the new N label is the euro-market i30 5-door hatchback.
The i30 N will be competing against the likes of the Ford Focus ST and the Volkswagen Golf GTI.
The new model has been spotted being put through its paces at the famous Nurburgring test track, which suggests it has more than enough power to compete.
You can expect to see a more aggressive design in the body of the Hyundai N cars, as well as stiffer suspensions than the traditional models.
Hyundai has not yet revealed what engine will be under the hood of the i30 N, but we suspect it will be a 1.6L turbocharged 4-cylinder unit that would likely fall in the power range of the Volkswagen GTI.
That would mean something in the range of 200 to 230 horsepower.
That is not the sort of power that is likely to upset the BMW apple cart, but it would make it competitive with the likes of the higher grade BMW 3-series models.
The i30 N would deliver a similar sort of performance, and would also be a little less hard on the wallet.
Genesis N performance sedans
The i30N hot hatchback is not being made to compete with BMW, but that might not be the case with the N version of the Genesis G80 sedan, which could go head to head with the BMW M5.
This is not something that would have been conceivable just a few short years ago, but Hyundai engineers are very quickly closing the gap at the top of the performance market.
Having the former head of the M division in charge of N will help Hyundai achieve their performance goals sooner rather than later.
http://www.hyundai-blog.com/i30
