Hyundai’s N division has worked its way through a number of the brand’s products, with an all-electric Ioniq 5 N due to be launched shortly also.
One vehicle that has missed out on the N treatment thus far, however, has been the medium-sized Tucson SUV, but that could be set to change.
Hyundai executive technical advisor Albert Biermann told CarExpert there is scope for a Tucson N and it won’t necessarily be combustion-powered and front-wheel drive.
Tucson Elite N Line
“I mean we have the Kona N, we can even think bigger and say okay, maybe we have a Tucson N someday,” he said.
“It could be just combustion. It could be a hybrid, it could be plug-in [hybrid]. It’s all there. It’s all available no problem.”
When asked how Hyundai decides which variants should receive N treatment, Biermann offered a slightly complex answer.
“That’s a very complicated procedure and it depends on many manufacturers and people’s opinion also. The process, it’s not very robust. It depends on many circumstances,” he said.
“And we can never trust the sales point that there is some pulling power from the market. If it was like that we wouldn’t have any N cars. That would be no N cars, you need different power in that company. Different ideas than like the normal procedure for such cars.”
Tucson Highlander N Line
It’s expected that if Hyundai does go down the path of either hybridisation or a plug-in hybrid for the Tucson N that it would be an all-wheel drive proposition with an electric motor mounted to the rear axle.
An electrified Tucson N would also make sense given increasingly strict emissions regulations in Europe and other parts of the world.
Hyundai currently offers a sporty N Line package on the Tucson, with various exterior and interior design tweaks. It doesn’t offer any extra power or mechanical changes, however.
The outgoing Kona, in contrast, has both sporty-looking N Line variants and a full-fledged N model. However, the latter is front-wheel drive only.
