Hyundai bets big on new N-line performance cars
Even as luxury carmakers stir the pot of alphabet soup with BMW’S performance M Series, Audi’s RS variants, Mercedesbenz’s AMG Sport line-up, Hyundai, too, has joined the tribe by launching the N-line brand in India.
Hyundai’s ‘N’ represents two elements: Namyang district in South Korea, the birthplace of the N brand and location of its global research and development centre; and the Nürburgring racetrack in Germany, home to its technical centre where N vehicles are tested. If earlier, the mention of Hyundai’s smaller cars evoked mileage, fuel efficiency, cost of ownership, and practicality, the N-line stands for mufflers, sporty spoilers, tail pipes, and edgy rims and wheels, say its executives.
Tarun Garg, director of Hyundai’s sales service and marketing, says “The Hyundai customer over the past year has changed. Individuals, in general, have become more individualised”.
The N-line, which will be presented and introduced in the i20 model line-up to begin with, will go head to head with the likes of Volkswagen’s Polo GT. The price, says Garg, will range between ~10 lakhs and ~14 lakhs. It will help create a new market and be a brand enhancement.
“While the chassis is the same, the engines will include a turbo powertrain and 1.0-litre turbo GDI i20 that will be able to accelerate to 100 km per hour in less than 10 seconds. It has better ride, better handling, and better steering. All the four wheels have disc brakes,” says Garg. The engine is not different from the standard i20. However, its tuning, suspension, and steering feel have been tweaked for performance.
In the past, market leaders, such as Maruti Suzuki, have experimented with performance cars. The Kizashi, for instance, had to be pulled off the market because of small volumes and a high sticker price for the sporty sedan.
“It’s hard to assign a sales number right off the bat. The i20 sells 7,000 units per month. As a brand builder, this will perhaps clock in sales of around 1,000 cars per month. But it may take some time to get to that,” adds Garg.