Honda N’s chief, Albert Biermann, spilled the beans about the Kona SUV being taken into consideration for production in the future. He said this during an interview with AutoExpress yesterday. He has directed his team of engineers to initiate work on the SUV in order to woo the higher echelons of management.
“I’ve told them [the engineers] to build the car and we’ll see what happens with getting it approved,” he said.
Albert Biermann confirmed that the powertrain and chassis that end up in the Kona SUV shall be inspired from the current components being installed in Hyundai N’s other vehicles such as the Veloster N and i30 N. The Kona will probably take the 2.0-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder engine that expels a maximum output of 257 hp.
The Kona SUV seems to be Hyundai’s attempt to tackle competitor performance SUVs. They include Volkswagen’s upcoming T-Roc R and Nissan’s Juke Nismo RS. The ‘N’ brand is Hyundai’s performance brand like Nissan’s Nismo.
The regular Hyundai Kona hosts a 2.0-liter 4-cylinder engine that makes 147 hp. There is also an electric variant due to be revealed in 2019, which would make 201 hp and would have 292 miles of range.
While it’s not sure when Hyundai N Kona shall be revealed, we do know that a tuned i30 fastback will be released internationally in 2019 along with other planned performance Hyundai vehicles.