Hyundai teases i20 N ahead of debut

Thursday, 8 October 2020

Listen to the i20 N's fruity exhaust note.

Hyundai has released a couple of teasers for its upcoming i20 N hot hatch and it looks good.

The styling of the car will be wound up from the base i20m with larger air intakes and a chunky front splitter, along with bigger side skirts and larger brakes. There’s a roof-mounted spoiler and larger exhaust tips too, denoting the sporty nature of the car.

Expect a lower ride height than the vanilla subcompact and special 18-inch rims. Hyundai will paint the i20 in Performance Blue contrasted with a black roof at first while other colour combinations may be also be available. We’d expect a pair of sports bucket seats and a sporty steering wheel to come as part of the package too.

Under that bonnet is said to be a 150kW/275Nm turbocharger four-pot paired with a six-speed manual transmission.

While Hyundai is keeping quiet on the tech specs, some publications like CarsGuide over in Australia have managed to glean more information out of the car while testing prototypes.

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There are fatter intakes, chunkier skirts and larger wheels for the high-performance i20 N.

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Expect the i20 N to come with a 1.6-litre turbocharged inline-four making around 150kW/275Nm, which is up in power over the 147kW VW Polo GTI and Ford Fiesta ST but down on torque (320Nm and 290Nm respectively).

Toyota’s forthcoming GR Yaris beats the lot with 200kW/370Nm on tap from its worked, turbocharged 1.6-litre triple, but we’d expect it to also cost more.

Hyundai will pair its hot hatch with a six-speed manual (yes), at least at first, and an optional limited-slip differential. Weight comes in at less than 1200kg, letting the little car hit 100kmh in 6.7 seconds before topping out at 230kmh.

A final release date and pricing are yet to be confirmed but the i20 N is rumoured to launch sometime next year.