The new Hyundai i30 N hot hatch been spied alongside a BMW 8 Series prototype at a petrol station in Germany.
This time around, as the car nears production, the prototype has headed out into the open without the front and rear car bras that adorned earlier evaluation vehicles.
Although this latest prototype is still clad head to toe in camouflage, it gives us our best look yet at the i30 N’s new front and rear fascias, as well as its dual-level rear spoiler with integrated triangular stop light.
From what we can see, Hyundai has decided to give the i30 an aggressive makeover, but without going over the top.
At last year’s Paris motor show, Albert Biermann, Hyundai’s head of vehicle test and high performance development, confirmed the i30 N would be available in two specifications: base, and a “more track oriented performance package”.
In February, CarAdvice revealed the base model will have a 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine developing around 186kW of power, while the track-oriented version will be tuned to deliver around 205kW.
Biermann also noted the i30 N will not have any local tuning. Unlike the rest of the Hyundai range, local engineers will not fine tune the car’s setup specifically for Australian conditions. Instead, i30 N models sold worldwide “will all be tuned at the Nurburgring, that’s it, period”.
Australia
The i30 N will be launched later this year, and an Australian launch is pencilled in for November 2016.
Initially the i30 N will be available solely with a six-speed manual. An eight-speed dual-clutch transmission is slated to join the range in 2019. All i30 N models will be sourced from Europe.
Also planned for release further down the track, at least in Europe, is a five-door liftback model. This new i30 body style was first spied on the road in March this year.
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