Hot Hyundai i30 N has been testing on UK roads
South Korean manufacturer’s first foray into performance cars is getting closer to production
Hyundai has brought its upcoming hot hatch to the UK for rigorous rough road testing.
The South Korean manufacturer has never built a performance car before, so there’s plenty of intrigue surrounding the i30 N.
Hyundai engineers brought the heavily camouflaged car to the UK as it approaches the final stages of development, particularly casting an eye on the car’s adaptive suspension and different drive modes.
Albert Biermann, executive vice-president of Hyundai, said: “The road testing serves to check if the driving performance of our first Hyundai ‘N’ high-performance car can meet our future customers’ requirements. We have to make sure that on these challenging UK roads the driving performance is also well suited to everyday use.
“There are plenty of fun and challenging corners out here – the N Team loves corners!”
Because of the UK’s widely varying weather, our roads tend to cut up more than those on continental Europe. With manufacturers typically developing models on smoother roads in Germany and Spain, front-wheel-drive hot hatches can struggle to put power into our broken tarmac. It’s therefore reassuring for UK customers that Hyundai has undertaken testing here.
To develop the car in harsh conditions, Hyundai is entering two near-production versions of the i30 N in the gruelling Nurburgring 24-hour race in Germany at the end of May.
Both race cars will run the same turbocharged 2.0-litre petrol engine and six-speed manual transmission that will feature in the road-going version.
The Hyundai i30 N will be officially launched this summer.
