We’ve been talking about the 4th generation Hyundai Tucson and its high-performance variant or Tucson N. The last information came back in October and said it won’t happen. At that time sources from the industry mentioned that as Tucson is not a track driving car, a N version couldn’t happen. But know, we have seen this prototype of a dual exhaust Tucson and we wonder, it will happen after all?
First of all, we will review the words from Albert Biermann in an interview with AutoExpress in 2019, where he said: “If I look at the Tuscon, the substance of it is so strong technically speaking, to make a Tucson N… I would love to do it.”
Insiders are remaining tight-lipped on final specs, but they expect at least 340bhp from the Tucson N and a 0-62mph time below six seconds in order to be competitive against its rivals. Insiders told the magazine that the firm was “not interested in making also-ran cars with N badges on them in whatever class they compete”.
So Tucson N was originally set to arrive within the next two years, after the end of the current model’s lifecycle and the release of the 4th generation Tucson or NX4, launched at the end of 2020. In case it finally arrives, will rival the Cupra Ateca (that has 300hp), Audi RS Q3 or the recently released Volkswagen Tiguan R.
At AutoExpress interview, engineers doesn’t confirm which platform it will be based on but they said: “We are going to take our time with this one – because when it appears it will blow everything else away in its sector.”
Coming back to 2021, Hyundai already launched it first high-performance SUV, the Kona N, with a 2.0 Turbo engine, 8-speed wet Dual Clutch transmission (DCT) but missed the possibility to have All-Wheel Drive for the first time on a N-performance car. So are we in front of the first Tucson N prototype?
We are pretty sure that the Kona N success will be one of the keys to launch another high-performance SUV, but as we recently have seen with the Elantra N, Hyundai high performance sub-brand is on a hurry to bring new models to the market, even more rapidly than ever, due to its tremendous success and improvement of brand’s image.
Photo Source: AutoPost
