Sporty Hyundai SUVs to come

If you thought only luxury car makers could create apex-attacking SUVs and tyre-frying crossovers, think again.

The head of Hyundai's N performance division, Albert Biermann, and several other high-ranking international execs have already said the Tucson N is a goer.

The new Hyundai Kona compact SUV is expected to get the go-fast treatment too, via more powerful engines, bigger brakes, aggressive body work and sporty suspension.

That's the good news.

The bad news? They're not a high priority for the Hyundai N division boffins just yet.

Hyundai has made no secret of its plans to take on Europe's heavy hitters with its new high-performance N division, the first fruit of which is the ballistic 202kW i30 N but Hyundai executives we spoke to wouldn't put a timeline on the arrival of the first SUV to get the fire-breathing Hyundai N treatment.

"I think it'll be a slow burn," said Andrew Tuitahi, senior manager of product planning at Hyundai Australia.

"Establishing a performance brand is something that we feel we need to be very careful with, very cautious with and make sure every single car we develop under that brand and deliver to market has to be exceptional."

Tuitahi told motoring.com.au that the next scorcher from Korea will not be an SUV – more likely is the Hyundai i30 Fastback coming in 2018 – but he said high-performance SUVs will be a crucial part of the 'N' mix.

"Customers really seem to be interested in the performance SUV, the combination of family and fun. As Mr Biermann said, Tucson is a consideration and the Kona – the Kona N the Barbarian [laughs] – could be the follow up."

The chief executive of Hyundai Australia said high-performance models, including SUVs, will be essential in changing mainstream opinions of the brand from cheap and cheerful to upmarket and aspirational.

"We are hoping the N branding will bring something new to our models," Hyundai Australia boss J.W. Lee said.

"We want to change customer perception, but we can't do this overnight. Whenever we do research, customer perception is always that we have affordable or cheaper cars. Good cars, but budget cars. I hope the N badge is going to create a halo effect for our brand," said Lee.

"So I think we need time but the N division is going to improve our brand value, across the entire range."

What are your thoughts, can the high-performance N brand change the way you identify Hyundai?