Hyundai engineers have been testing a prototype i30 N on some of the best driving roads in the UK, as part of an intensive development programme.

The programme also included extreme winter testing in Sweden by World Rally Championship driver Thierry Neuville, said a statement from the company.

The i30 N will be the first high-performance model carrying Hyundai’s new ‘N’ logo. Based on the New Generation Hyundai i30, the i30 N is being developed from the ground up to deliver maximum fun to drive on the road and on the track, it said.

The ‘N’ stands for Namyang, Hyundai Motor’s global R&D Centre, and for the Nürburgring, one of the most demanding race tracks in the world and home to Hyundai Motor’s European Test Centre. The ‘N’ logo resembles a chicane, representing the ultimate driving experience on winding roads, it added.

In the UK, Hyundai engineers tested the i30 N prototype to fine-tune and check the current status of development, focusing on the car’s adaptive suspension and different drive modes.
 
“We are getting closer and closer to the final development stage of the i30 N,” said Albert Biermann, executive vice president and head of vehicle test and high performance development at Hyundai Motor Company.

“The road testing serves to check if the driving performance of our first Hyundai N high performance car can meet our future customers’ requirements. We have to make sure that on these challenging UK roads the driving performance is also well suited to everyday use. There are plenty of fun and challenging corners out here – the N Team loves corners,” he said.

From today (May25), two close-to-production i30 N vehicles will enter the ADAC Zurich 24-hour race at the Nürburgring, said a statement.

Both cars will be competing with a 2.0-litre turbo engine and six-speed manual transmission – the same powertrain and transmission set-up that will be used in the production i30 N.

The race will give Hyundai engineers more valuable insights about necessary refinements and potential performance enhancements for the i30 N ahead of its launch this summer, it added. – TradeArabia News Service