Long-Rumored Hyundai Mid-Engined Sports Car Is Officially Dead

For years, we’d heard rumors of a mid-engine sports activities automobile from Hyundai, meant to fly the flag for the model’s N efficiency division. And Hyundai, to its credit score, made no efforts to misdirect us. There was the RM19 idea — a Veloster with a mid-mounted 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder pulled straight out of a WTCR touring automobile. The corporate itself described the prototype, seen above, as “a improvement platform for future N model merchandise, together with a possible brand-halo automobile.” One thing large was taking place. It isn’t anymore.

Certainly, Albert Biermann — the BMW M man, who later grew to become the Hyundai N man and retired final 12 months however nonetheless serves as a guide for the Korean automaker — just about simply revealed to Top Gear every thing that this holy grail was alleged to be. He described it as a “supercar.”

[Biermann] explains that the Hyundai supercar would have been primarily based round a carbon fibre tub chassis, with a mid-engined structure. “We had plans for a petroleum [engine] with or with out hybrid, or [it could’ve have accepted] a hydrogen gas cell.”

It by no means obtained an actual identify, identified inside the firm as solely “The Chairman’s Automotive.” The worth tag would have landed within the $150,000 vary, prompting Prime Gear to make comparisons to the Acura NSX. Biermann’s reply? “Certain, however not boring.” Rattling.

Value and positioning, it will appear, are what doomed the forbidden flagship:

It was the Hyundai board that decreed ‘The Chairman’s Automotive’ would stay on the drafting board. “The issue was the automobile would have value over $150,000, and at the moment it was thought a Hyundai couldn’t have this value.” Biermann goes on to agree that this was in all probability the suitable choice, because the i30N, and now the i20N and Kona N have introduced Hyundai to a brand new viewers of petrolhead clients exactly as a result of they’re inexpensive.

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The cancellation makes a bit extra sense now that we all know how costly this spectacle for the N model would have been. Every little thing we’d heard painted the car as extra of a sports activities automobile — maybe one thing within the Alfa 4C / Alpine A110 / Porsche 718 territory. On this newest interview, Biermann describes a machine that appears a bit extra severe than that.

Nonetheless, I can’t assist however really feel value is a flimsy excuse. Model positioning doesn’t matter anymore — not when Jeep is promoting a six-figure SUV meant to woo Vary Rover consumers, and we’re firmly entrenched within the age of dumb markups. Apart from, if Hyundai was really satisfied no one would take its supercar severely, they may’ve simply put a Genesis badge on the factor.

In the end the world didn’t want one other exorbitantly costly efficiency automobile, so personally I’m not going to lose sleep over this one. The prospect of an N flagship was compelling partially as a result of it appeared like it will be attainable.

That mentioned, the N model is in one thing of a holding sample as of late. The Veloster N is lifeless, the Kona N is a good however bloated stand-in, and the Elantra N is fugly. It’ll be fascinating to see what the division can squeeze out of the Ioniq 5 and 6, however these aren’t precisely across the nook. N had quite a lot of momentum out of the gate, however now I reckon the model may actually use a spark of life — no more vaporware, fairly although the N Imaginative and prescient 74 is.