With every gasoline-fueled hot hatch that bites the bullet, the world becomes a sadder place. Stricter emissions regulations have largely killed fun cars in Europe, taking away desirable pocket rockets like the i20 N and i30 N. Hyundai’s man in charge of the N division is just as disappointed as we are, calling the premature demise of those models a veritable “disaster.”
In an interview with Car Magazine, Joon Park admitted, “The discontinuation of i20 and i30 N was a disaster for me.” Production of Hyundai N’s rivals for the Volkswagen Polo GTI and Golf GTI in the European market ended in February. However, the hot hatches are still around in other regions such as Australia, where the two fun cars even received a minor facelift last year.
A compromise is coming: hybrids. Joon says it’ll be a while before electrified hot hatchbacks roam the streets, but it’s doable. The odds of seeing a turbocharged 2.0-liter gas engine under the hood are slim, especially in Europe, due to “current regulation and future regulation.” The smaller 1.6-liter unit at the core of a hybrid powertrain has a better chance of complying with tougher legislation.
Outside of the hot hatch realm, an Elantra N (aka Avante N in South Korea) with a bigger combustion engine has already been confirmed, just not for Europe, obviously. As for crossovers, there’s no word about Hyundai doing another Kona N, either with a gas engine or as a fully electric model.
While the focus appears to be on hot EVs like the Ioniq 5 N and the new Ioniq 6 N, Joon assures traditionalists that “we [Hyundai N] are not limiting ourselves to EVs.” The future may mostly belong to sporty cars without combustion engines, but ICE will survive in some capacity.