Hyundai’s pair of fiery hatchbacks have made local landfall and we were at the local launch today in the Western Cape, sampling the Korean firm’s latest spiced up wares – the i30 and Kona, both in ‘N’ guise.
N, for… not slow? We all knew that Hyundai meant business when they poached Albert Boermann from BMW M to head up their N performance division. Anyone can shoehorn a powerful motor into a rekey looking vehicle, but the handling is the tricky bit. If anyone knows a thing or three about handling, its old ‘Bertie from the block.
Much like Gordon Murray likes to forget about the SLR McLaren when looking back on his illustrious career, we can imagine the N-boffins do the same with the i20 N. The i30 N is where things really grabbed our attention, and now they have updated what many considered to be not only an admirable first attempt, but a genuinely brilliant hot-hatchback.
With it’s impressive build quality and endearing looks, the Kona has proved to be quite the success for Hyundai, garnering impressive sales numbers around the world. It would make sense, then, to create some sort of a crossover-hot-hatch lovechild, then, and beat the Kona with the N-stick. The result is the Kona N (it’s very difficult to not type Konan) a star performer in CAR Magazine’s 2022 Performance Shootout.
Local pricing for the pair is R749 900 and they cone standard with Hyundai’s impressive 7 years / 200 000km Manufacturer warranty, 5 year / 75 000km service plan and 7 Year / 150 000km roadside assistance.
