Hyundai hot hatch just the start

Hyundai’s first bona-fide hot hatch, the i30N, will be no performance car flash in the pan.

Instead, it marks the beginning of an unprecedented performance car assault from the world’s third largest car-maker and will arrive amid an all-new model push by the Korean giant.

Based on the newly released, third-generation i30 hatch, the i30N goes on sale in Australia around October and will undercut the Volkswagen Golf GTI despite delivering more performance and tech.

Hyundai has confirmed its second N model will be based on the all-new i30 Fastback, which is due for global release next year.

Hyundai chief designer Thomas Buerkle presented this teaser image of the i30N Fastback at the local i30 launch earlier this month, and Hyundai Australia has indicated the swoopy new i30 derivative will come here only in N form.

“If we were to do [import] i30 Fastback it would most likely be just N,” Hyundai Australia senior product planning manager Andrew Tuitahi told motoring.com.au.

Hyundai’s second-generation Veloster is also due in 2018 and could also score the N treatment.

Either way, Tuitahi indicated it would remain different enough to continue on sale here alongside the new i30 and all-new i30 Fastback, at least in mainstream form.

“Fastback is a different proposition to Veloster, more like a sedan,” he said.

Underlining its intention to deliver rivals for Europe’s hottest hatches, Hyundai is also working on a production version of the even-hotter RN30 concept, which packs a 280kW turbo four and all-wheel drive, making it a direct rival for the Ford Focus RS.

Hyundai is currently testing “functional prototypes” of the RN30 but is yet to confirm the model for production.

Separately, as evidenced by these spy shots from last October, the ambitious Asian brand is also developing a production version of the wild, mid-engined Veloster-based RM16 concept, which may or may not also end up in showrooms.

Before all that, in August, Hyundai Australia will launch a heavily facelifted Sonata, the first N performance version of which is also possible.

Quickly following that around September will be Hyundai’s first small SUV, the Kona, which is yet to be folly revealed but will directly rival the Mazda CX-3, Honda CR-V, Toyota C-HR and Holden Trax.

Also due by year’s end are the mid-size G70 sedan and large G80 sedan, which together will launch Hyundai’s standalone Genesis luxury brand Down Under, as well as the all-new IONIQ green-car, which will be available in hybrid, plug-in hybrid and all-electric form.

Hyundai has ruled out the N treatment for Genesis models and an N version of the IONIQ is unlikely, but a quick look at the i30N’s vital statistics shows how serious Hyundai is taking its first foray into the performance car market.
Hyundai i30N: The low-down

The piping-hot five-door is nearing the end of an intensive development program led by former BMW M chief engineer and now Hyundai’s Head of Vehicle Test & High Performance Development, Albert Biermann.

Biermann was in Australia last week to chaperone two pre-production prototype i30Ns, one of which spent two weeks hot weather testing, while the other underwent high-speed handling tests at the DECA circuit in Wodonga.

One car will remain here a while longer; the other was tested at Bathurst’s Mt Panorama circuit before returning to Germany’s infamous Nurburgring, where suspension tuning will be finalised.

Two versions of the i30N will be offered, but not necessarily in Australia, where Hyundai is still deciding whether it will bring both the standard i30N, which would undercut the base Golf GTI with a sub-$40,000 price tag, and the i30N Performance, which is – surprise, surprise – a direct rival for the Golf GTI Performance.

The latter would be priced under $50K and also aimed at the all-wheel drive Golf R, as well as the front-drive Peugeot 308 GTi 270 and upcoming Honda Civic Type R and Renault Megane RS.

Basic specs for both initial i30N models have now been confirmed, with the entry-level version running a 184kW 2.0-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder sourced from the Sonata turbo, and the Performance version upping that to 202kW – more than its most direct German rival.

Torque outputs are yet to be revealed but think around 400Nm, and both models will be fitted exclusively with a six-speed manual transmission – at least until eight-speed wet dual-clutch automatic versions come on stream within 18 months.

The base i30N rides on lower, firmer suspension and 18-inch alloy wheels with Michelin rubber and drives through an open front differential with brake torque vectoring, while the i30N Performance runs 19-inch alloys with bespoke ‘HM’-branded Pirelli PZero tyres and gains an electronically controlled mechanical limited-slip diff.

Both models will come with adaptive two-mode suspension damping, a switchable rev-matching function, completely revised chassis kinematics to increase traction, a stronger clutch, improved gearbox syncromesh and, compared to the Sonata 2.0T, a larger turbo and uprated intake, cooling and exhaust systems, plus an artificial sound generator.

Naturally, there are sports front seats, beefier front and rear bumpers and a rear roof spoiler as part of a sportier body kit, but apart from two lower reinforcing struts the i30N’s body in white is unchanged from the standard i30.

Aside from wider, sticker tyres and extra engine performance courtesy of a different turbo overboost strategy, the top-spec i30N – which was benchmarked against the hot Golf GTI 40 Years edition – comes with an active bimodal exhaust, two-mode differential and stability control functions, shorter final drive ratio, 5mm lower ride height, stiffer springs and shocks, upgraded brake rotors and pads, sportier front seats and an ‘N mode’ switch.

Beyond the standard car’s Eco, Normal and Sport drive modes, buyers of the i30N Performance will be able to select N mode via a steering wheel button, in which the steering, damping, exhaust, rev-matching, ESC and e-LSD systems are set more extreme levels.

There is also launch control and a gear shift light, and dealer-fit options in some markets will include a lap timing and data-logging accessory, lighter wheels with stickier Cup tyres and racy bucket seats. ESC can be disengaged, but it will not entirely disable understeer control.

The i30N Performance weighs in at 1450kg – a few kilos more than the standard model – and both versions will be built exclusively in the Czech Republic (all other i30s will come to Australia from Korea).

Hyundai is so serious about its first N car, which takes its name from both Namyang (Hyundai’s global R&D centre) and the Nurburgring, that two near-production i30Ns will contest the ADAC Zurich 24-hour race at the Green Hell later this month in a final shakedown test.

Despite this, Biermann said N development focused on steering response, turn-in, control, feedback and general fun factor, rather than sheer acceleration or speed, but promises that both i30Ns will be as quick as their closest rivals, meaning a 0-100km/h time in less than 6.5 seconds.

What’s coming from Hyundai:
Sonata facelift – August
Kona – September
i30N – October
Genesis G70 and G80 – November
IONIQ hybrid, PHEV and electric – December
i30N Fastback – 2018
Veloster II – 2018