Hyundai Says N Performance Kicking Ass in Europe, Hopes for Same in the U.S.

Hyundai has spend the majority of its life as a value company. While there’s nothing wrong with that, it’s not a role that comes with a lot of prestige or upmarket appeal. It’s ready to grow up. However, for an automaker, part of growing up includes a performance line. Because you can’t be a serious carmaker if you don’t have an iconic brooch for specially designed vehicles — and the emblem that sporting Hyundais will wear is the mighty N.

Last year, Hyundai revealed the i30 N for the European market. This caused an uproar in North America because it appeared as if the company was producing something created for the sole purpose of besting the industry standard for hot hatchbacks — Volkswagen’s GTI. Fortunately, the South Korean brand decided to throw us a juicy bone by unveiling the Veloster N a short time later.

The model takes the i30 N’s 271-horsepower 2.0-liter engine and places it inside of a slightly different (more aggressive) body. Hyundai is confident it will be a success and, based on how things are playing out in Europe, it has every right to feel that way.

“Initial sales of N products are going beyond expectations,” said Thomas Schemera, head of Hyundai’s high-performance vehicle division told Automotive News. “Almost 3,000 units of the i30 N were sold in the first half of 2018 in Europe.”

While those numbers aren’t enough to best the performance variant of the VW Golf, they’re also nothing to sneeze at. However, the warm reception could just the result of a much-hyped and new model.

We think that sells the i30 N a bit short, though. Reviews have been exceptionally positive. It’s the Elantra of your dreams, offering solid performance at an attractive price. With computer-controlled exhaust backfires and more road noise, its more hardcore than the comparatively plush GTI. But it’s also said to more livable than something like the Ford Focus RS.

Former BMW performance car engineer and brainchild for Hyundai’s N cars Albert Biermann, is confident sales will remain strong through the rest of the year. “We can’t build enough,” he said, noting that the Veloster N will be even sportier than its European sibling. “We have a six- to seven-month waiting list on the car basically everywhere.”

The Veloster is said to be roughly 88 pounds lighter than the i30, while still offering the same hardware and 155 mph top speed. It’s a great value for performance enthusiasts on a budget, but they may find themselves overpaying if Hyundai can’t meet demand in the United States. Dealers love to mark-up difficult-to-acquire models, so the Veloster N could come at an unnecessary premium.

That would, most likely, place realistic transactions beyond the $30,000 cap we assumed Hyundai was shooting for. How much higher will be dependent upon how many examples the automaker can get onto dealer lots. European customers ordering today will already have to wait a full year to get their i30 N. If Americans are forced to endure a similar delay, those dealer markups could get out of hand pretty quickly.

While Hyundai isn’t going to limit production of the high-performance models, it also doesn’t gain much from bending over backwards to avoid shortages. In fact, it might be in its best interest to keep the Veloster N slightly out of reach to build mystique and focus on giving less-serious models N-inspired enhancements. Upgrades like that have a higher profit margin than a competitively priced performance model with all the trimmings. However, people won’t be clamoring for those items if the top-tier N models aren’t visible on the roads and popular in the media.

[Image: Hyundai]