Hyundai Kona ‘to get’ N treatment

WHEN a carmaker launches a performance sub-brand to produce sportier and higher-performance versions of its regular models there’s inevitably lots of speculation about which models will be chosen to be given the treatment.

The first model in Hyundai’s new N sub-brand is the i30 N, so it’s about time another Hyundai model was brought into the N fold. And it seems the relatively recently introduced Kona crossover could be one of the next models to be overhauled by the N division.

If a Kona N does get the go ahead from the bosses at Hyundai it’s expected to boast an impressive 247 horsepower, courtesy of the 2.0-litre turbocharged engine to be borrowed from the i30 N. Unfortunately though, the hotter 271 bhp Performance-Pack version of this engine is not expected to make its way under the hood of the Kona.

The company’s man in charge of the N sub-brand, Albert Biermann, has told the UK’s Auto Express he’s instructed engineers to begin work on a prototype with the hope it will help obtain approval from the Hyundai hierarchy to be put into production. And it was Biermann who gave the game away about the i30’s engine being utilised.

Biermann told Auto Express, “I’ve told them (the engineers) to build the car and we’ll see what happens with getting it approved. It has to be the i30 N powertrain, really.” —Relaxnews