No Australian tuning for Hyundai’s new N performance cars

Speaking exclusively to Australian journalists at the Paris motor show, head of vehicle test and high performance development, Albert Biermann, told CarAdvice that N Performance products will exclusively be tuned at the Nurburgring.

"No tuning for Australia, but we will invite Australian engineers to join us. This car will all be tuned at the Nurburgring, that's it, period," said Biermann.

Pictured: RN30 concept (top), new i30 hatch (above), i30 N prototype (below)

Currently, Hyundai Australia's entire range of vehicles (with the exception of iMax and iLoad) is tuned in Australia for Australia's unique conditions. The continual investment in the tuning program has helped Hyundai offer suspension and ride tunes that are unique to Australian delivered vehicles.

Hyundai Australia constantly receives high praise for the way its cars perform in Australia, with the unique tune installed at the factory before the car is delivered locally. But, Biermann said that there is an open invitation for Australian engineers to provide input into the final product.

"This is too early to join [Australian engineers at the Nurburgring], but when we do the final character attribute adjustments, then we will invite them," Biermann said.

We expect that the final N Performance vehicles will feature variable dampers — a first for the i30. This will help it cope with a number of surfaces, including track work, which the car has been engineered for.

The first Hyundai N Performance car is expected to be launched in 2017 and available in Australia shortly after its European launch.