2022 Hyundai i30 Fastback N: Is the Limited Edition the end of the road in Australia?
Hyundai will have not one, but two high-performance small sedans in showrooms come late 2021 – but will the facelifted i30 Fastback N stick around, or leave Australia for good?
Many Hyundai N enthusiasts were caught by surprise last week when the South Korean car maker announced the return of the 2022 Hyundai i30 Fastback N to Australia.
Despite many being under the impression the all-new, South Korean-made Sedan N would replace the European-built Fastback N as the hot four-door i30 in local showrooms, Hyundai confirmed a run of 500 Limited Edition Fastbacks, benefiting from the same mid-life facelift applied to the hatch.
But is this limited-run facelifted Fastback a sign of a full-time return of the body style to the i30 N range, or simply a limited-edition run?
"With the all-new i30 Sedan N due in [the fourth quarter of] this year, we have no current plans to make the i30 Fastback N part of our core N model range in Australia," a Hyundai Australia spokesperson told CarAdvice.
However, the representative added: "We’re not entirely ready to close the book on i30 Fastback N, there is always the potential for another chapter, but nothing is confirmed. This might not be a last hurrah for the i30 Fastback N in Australia."
Hyundai Australia wouldn't reveal what the future holds for the i30 Fastback N beyond the 500 Limited Edition vehicles – though CarAdvice understands more special-edition variants could be in the works if it's well received, potentially offering different colour and trim options to differentiate it from the i30 Sedan N.
About 20 per cent of all Hyundai i30 N examples sold in Australia since the hatchback's launch in March 2018 have been Fastbacks – equating to around 540 of the 2715 examples delivered – despite the coupe-styled five-door only reaching local showrooms in March 2019.
The i30 Fastback N's spiritual replacement will be the i30 Sedan N, due in Australia in the fourth quarter of 2021 (October to December inclusive).
While both vehicles share the same 206kW/392Nm 2.0-litre turbo engine and choice of manual or dual-clutch automatic transmissions, the Sedan is a conventional four-door sedan built in South Korea, while the Fastback is a five-door 'liftback' built alongside the i30 N hatch in the Czech Republic.
The models also ride on different platforms – with the Sedan's being a generation newer, given the base i30 Sedan launched in 2020, versus the i30 Fastback that shares its architecture with the current i30 hatch, launched in Europe in 2016.
"The i30 Sedan N will also appeal to customers who want a four-door coupe design (like the Fastback), but with the added benefit of being built on [a] newer platform offering more performance capability," added the Hyundai spokesperson.
Click the links below to learn more about the new 2022 Hyundai i30 Sedan N and i30 Fastback N Limited Edition.
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