One of the best decisions made by any automaker in the last few years has been Hyundai’s hiring of BMW M performance bosses Albert Biermann and Thomas Schemera. The fruits of their labour are immense, with new racecars, a midengine hatchback concept, the fantastic new Veloster N and now the upcoming Hyundai Elantra N sedan with its new engine.
News of the all-new production performance Elantra N sedan, set to premiere alongside the Veloster N in the Korean automaker’s performance paddock, arrived tucked in the reveal of the new Hyundai Elantra N TCR race car, naturally.
The new Elantra N TCR (Touring Car Racing) and its 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine will inspire the production version of the N sedan set to debut in the 2022 model year. The TCR will switch from the existing Hyundai TCR lineup’s hydraulic steering to electronic but will keep the familiar six-speed paddle-shift gearbox as the European i30 TCR and U.S. Veloster N TCR customer racecars.
However, there are no power details on the new powertrain in either production or racing spec yet, but Hyundai did release a camouflaged video teaser of the pre-production Hyundai Elantra N sedan and its exhaust note at the end of this minute-long clip:
It sounds like a farty four-cylinder, for sure!
The new Elantra N street car will slot above the current Elantra N-Line, which features a 1.6-litre inline four-cylinder tuned to a decent 201 horsepower and 88 kg-ft of torque, and it’s available with an optional six-speed manual transmission over an automatic. It’ll go on sale in December at around $US27,000 ($37,657), Car and Driver reports.
But let’s back up to the manual for a second. Could that mean the hotter N model will also get a stick? Can Hyundai deliver where the new Mazda3 Turbo has not so far? Will we ever be satisfied? I don’t know, but Hyundai is really hot right now, so let’s keep the party going.
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[referenced id=”1514999″ url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2020/09/the-hyundai-rm20e-exists-to-figure-out-what-fun-means-for-electric-cars/” thumb=”https://gizmodo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/29/mv3qznodn9jsksfpdwpa-300×169.jpg” title=”The Hyundai RM20e Exists To Figure Out What Fun Means For Electric Cars” excerpt=”The Hyundai RM20e is an 596 kW super hatchback, but it’s also an evolving testbed for the South Korean automaker’s performance technology. Like its predecessors, this prototype is getting whipped around racetracks so that its tech can (we hope) trickle down to roads.”]