- Hyundai Develops New ‘Halo’ Sports Car
Korean automaker, Hyundai has confirmed that it is working on a new halo model for the N brand.
Speaking to Auto Express, Thomas Schemera, Hyundai’s Vice President of high-performance and motorsport vehicles confirmed that a standalone N brand vehicle was in the works.
He was quoted as saying in a report that “the next step in the development of the N brand is a bespoke, standalone model. The whole idea is to strengthen the Hyundai brand, to bring more emotion.”
The confirmation put to rest months of rumour in the auto industry about the Hyundai’s development of the standalone vehicle.
According to Schemera, the launch of the i30 N hatch and fastback, along with the Velsoter N, which will not go on sale in the United Kingdom, is the “completion of the first phase of N vehicles.”
He added, “The whole idea is to strengthen the Hyundai brand, to bring more emotion.
“I can tell you Albert Biermann [Hyundai engineering boss] and I are interested in hot things and have some ideas in the pipeline for a halo model — rest assured we are coming up with something.”
But Auto Express says there is still an internal debate going on within the company as to what the ‘halo’ model should be; whether that takes form as a two-seater sports car or performance saloon like the Kia Stinger is still being discussed. The model, as a result, is still several years away from production.
Biermann has also spelled out plans to be involved with the development of new models from the very beginning so the process of engineering Hyundai’s core products into N models is streamlined. That process is expected to begin with the next-generation i20 supermini.
Hyundai launched the N brand with the RN30 concept at the 2015 Frankfurt Motor Show.
