200kW Hyundai Sonata N Line confirmed for Australia
Performance variant developed by N performance division, Hyundai Sonata N Line to get sportier styling, all-new turbo engine and tweaked suspensionHyundai has announced, at the New York motor show, that it is readying a powerful turbocharged Hyundai Sonata N Line based on the eighth-generation family sedan.
Confirmed for the Australian market, the Korean car-maker has announced the flagship Hyundai Sonata N Line will be powered by an all-new turbo petrol that will produce more than 200kW, but there’s a catch.
The flagship Hyundai Sonata N Line isn’t expected to arrive until 2021— around 18 months after the regular models reach Australian showrooms in Q3 of 2019.
There’s no word on the reason for the delay, but when it arrives it will join the standard Hyundai Sonata that, in Australia, comes powered by a naturally aspirated 142kW 2.5-litre four-cylinder.
In the US, a more powerful 150kW 1.6-litre turbo is available but it remains ruled out for our market.
Originally, it was thought a faster Sonata might get the same 2.0-litre turbo four-cylinder that lives under the bonnet of the current i30 N — but a Hyundai insider has confirmed that the Sonata N Line will get an engine that’s currently not available in any other model.
There’s also no word on whether or not the car-maker plans to introduce a full-blown Sonata N version that’s could be all-wheel drive, thanks to its all-new platform.
A safe bet is that the Sonata N Line will bag an all-new turbocharged version of the car-maker’s next-generation ‘Smartstream’ engine that could be combined with the car-maker’s rapid-shifting eight-speed dual-clutch transmission.
As well as a more powerful engine the Sonata N Line will also get a sportier chassis tune that will benefit from local tuning.
Potentially accompanying the Sonata N Line, Hyundai’s North America COO also refused to rule out the prospect of a sportier version of the small Venue SUV.
“I think this [N Line] applies to that [Venue] as well. I think the next one will be Sonata but you’re going to see more across the line-up.”
If green lit for production the little Venue N Line is expected to swap its naturally aspirated Smartstream 1.6-litre for the more powerful turbocharged 1.6 T-GDI engine that could boost power to around 135kW.
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