Twin-turbo Hyundai sports sedan due in 2017

Hyundai will launch a rear-drive compact sports sedan in the Australian market in 2017 possibly powered by the company’s 510Nm 3.3-litre twin-turbocharged V6 engine.

The ‘Genesis’ nameplate will next year become Hyundai’s sports-luxury sub-brand, with a facelifted version of the current Hyundai Genesis large car set to be renamed Genesis G80. But that isn’t the exciting part.

The rebranding paves the way for the Genesis G70 – a 3 Series-sized compact rear-drive sedan tipped for global debut at January’s Detroit motor show – to arrive in the second half of next year just as Holden turns off the local taps for VF Series II Commodore.

Hyundai Australia’s chief operating officer Scott Grant confirmed that a high-performance version is in the works from the company’s N performance division, which has a testing facility at the Nurburgring.

“Next year the N sub-brand will apply to a range of products, one of them will be i30 [hot-hatch] and one will be across the Genesis range,” Grant told MOTOR.

“It will be our go-fast range. There will be some N products on Genesis, no doubt. I believe the new model the G70, the 3 Series type product, will be the first vehicle to move forward.

“That’s coming, for sure, next year.”

Hyundai last year debuted a brand new 3.3-litre twin-turbocharged V6 engine in its US-only Genesis G90 limousine (pictured), producing 272kW at 6000rpm and 510Nm across a 1300rpm to 4500rpm spread, driving the rear wheels through an eight-speed automatic.

A 313kW/519Nm 5.0-litre naturally aspirated V8 engine is also in the South Korean brand’s G90, but is less likely for the compact sedan.

It all sounds very European, but the Genesis G70 won’t be priced like a BMW. The current Hyundai Genesis Ultimate flagship costs $82,000 plus on-road costs in Australia, leaving some limbo room for the smaller G70 below it. It also narrows the gap to the soon-extinct $56,190 Commodore SS V Redline automatic.

“Next year will be a very exciting year,” Grant added, before answering whether Hyundai’s Australian engineers are excited to be able to tune a rear-drive sports sedan.

“Oh yeah, absolutely, they are involved in every product we have access to.”