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 labor 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-liter 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-liter inline four-cylinder tuned to a decent 201 horsepower and 195 lb-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 $27,000, 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.