Hyundai unveils i20 N-Line, betting on fun-to-drive performance cars

The i20 N-Line is expected to add 1,000 units in monthly sales; the brand celebrates Hyundai's World Rally Championship success

Even as luxury carmakers stir the pot of alphabet soup with BMW's performance M Series, Audi's RS variants, Mercedes-Benz's AMG Sport line-up, Hyundai, too, has joined the tribe by launching the N-Line brand in India.

Hyundai’s ‘N’ represents two  elements: Namyang district in South Korea, the birthplace of the N brand and location of its global research and development centre; and the Nürburgring racetrack in Germany, home to its technical centre where N vehicles are tested. 

If earlier, the mention of Hyundai's smaller cars evoked mileage, fuel efficiency, cost of ownership, and practicality, the N-Line stands for mufflers, sporty spoilers, tail pipes, and edgy rims and wheels, say its officials. 

Tarun Garg, director of Hyundai's sales service and marketing, says "the Hyundai customer over the past year has changed. Individuals, in general, have become more individualised". 

The N-Line, which will be presented and introduced in the i20 model line-up to begin with, will go head to head with the likes of Volkswagen's Polo GT. The price, says Garg, will range between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 14 lakh. It will help create a new market and be a brand enhancement.

"While the chassis is the same, the engines will include a turbo powertrain and 1.0-litre turbo GDi i20 that will be able to accelerate to 100 kilometres per hour in less than 10 seconds. It has better ride, better handling, and better steering. All the four wheels have disc brakes," says Garg.

The engine is not different from the standard i20. However, its tuning, suspension, and steering feel have been tweaked for performance. 

In the past, market leaders, such as Maruti Suzuki, have experimented with performance cars. The Kizashi, for instance, had to be pulled off the market because of small volumes and a high sticker price for the sporty sedan. 

"It's hard to assign a sales number right off the bat. The i20 sells around 7,000 units per month. As a brand builder, this will perhaps clock in sales of around 1,000 cars per month. But it may take some time to get to that," says Garg.

In a market already saturated with famous faces driving up car endorsements, Hyundai takes a back seat. It will rely instead on the star power of the model itself. "The car will remain the star," says Garg.

Market analysts laud the move, saying it is innovative for a mass manufacturer.

"In general, India doesn’t have the legacy of sport or ‘hot’ hatches. But it’s an interesting proposition for a market where the average buyer is young,  aspirational, and experimentative," says Suraj Ghosh, associate director, powertrain & compliance forecasts, South Asia at IHS Markit.

"It’s fundamentally different from the version that competed in and completed the ‘Nürburgring 24 Hours’ race, retaining most of the cosmetic features and few of the technical ones," adds Ghosh. 

Across the world, Hyundai has sold 100,000 cars on different platforms in its line-up of cars. Garg says the N-Line will be presented in more and more models - most likely next year.