Those of you holding your breath for the Hyundai i30 N will have to wait a bit longer – the company’s first proper hot hatch is only slated to be launched in Europe in the second half of the year. To help tide you over, however, Hyundai has released a new teaser video of the car undergoing winter testing, being driven by none other than its World Rally Championship (WRC) driver Thierry Neuville.
The Belgian drove the i30 N on a frozen lake in Arjeplog, Sweden in order to get a feel for its performance and to provide feedback to the engineers to enhance the development process. The crew are testing the car there to develop and tune its dynamic systems, such as the stability control, limited slip differential, steering, dampers, suspension and tyres.
From what little we can see here, the N version looks the part of a hot hatch, with subtly more aggressive bumpers and side skirts, twin exhaust outlets and large Y-spoke alloy wheels. Those sporty looks are matched to a rorty engine growl that sounds quite a bit harder-edged than most four-cylinder engines.
Expect the i30 N’s engine to be a 2.0 litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine in two tunes, much like the Volkswagen Golf GTI and its more hardcore sibling, the GTI Performance. The mill should be able to deliver up to 260 hp – enough to take on rivals such as the benchmark VW, the Ford Focus ST and the Peugeot 308 GTi – sent to the front wheels via a six-speed manual transmission.
SPYSHOTS: Hyundai i30 N
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
really like the rims…
Hyundai sure know how to make the car industry stand up. With the i20 doing well in WRC, they took the opportunity to showcase to the world what a “Newcomer” in WRC can do with this i30-N.
IMO, Hyundai should equipt this i30 with a 4-WD to control all the traction/torque it generate for better acceleration & traction. Hope they will do it when they decide to go commercial.