Hyundai i30 N delayed until next year

Korea’s first hot hatch, the Hyundai i30 N, won’t make it to Australia until early next year.

The company revealed that it has had to update the timeline for the arrival of the i30 N, as well as that of its Genesis G70, but is working within the company globally and with N Division to keep things moving.

Expected in Australia in early 2018 are both versions of the i30 N, the base 184kW/ 353Nm version and the GTI-rivalling 202kW/353Nm Performance Pack. The former will hit 100km/h in 6.4 seconds, while the latter will get there in 6.2s. MOTOR has already had a turn of the wheel in an i30 N – almost.

We were lucky enough to jump in the prototype with the man behind N Division (and former BMW M man) Albert Biermann. The first impressions we got of the car were mostly positive, and we were impressed with how much fun the prototype is, though the pre-production version is likely not a true reflection of the final polished product.

Hyundai said in a statement it was unable to go into detail regarding the reason for the delay at this stage.

It did tell MOTOR to expect a February or March 2018 local launch, though we should be able to get behind the wheel of one later this year to bring you a review from overseas.

In Europe, Hyundai has said the i30 N will be on sale later in 2017.

We’ll keep you up to date with any more details that emerge from Hyundai, if any.