Hyundai i30 Fastback N confirmed for Australia

HYUNDAI Australia has removed any speculation about a local arrival of the i30 Fastback N by officially confirming its appearance in our showrooms from next year.

Overnight the South Korean head office revealed new photos of the i30 Fastback N – a coupe-styled version of Hyundai’s brilliant hot hatch – which show the car at a racetrack track with heavy camouflage covering its bodywork to disguise the details.

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Hyundai’s N division has a technical centre at the Nordschleife in Germany, and has been testing the hotted-up Fastback on the famously punishing circuit as part of its development programme.

Confirmation of the Fastback N might come as a surprise to Aussie customers, as Hyundai initially ruled out lesser variants of the big-booted i30 body-style for Australia. However, our appetite for N product has resulted in the single, hot Fastback getting the green light.

Hyundai is yet to reveal the i30 Fastback N’s full technical details and trim specifications, but it does share a platform with the i30 hatch, so expect Australian-delivered iterations to be of a similar set-up.

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Locally, i30 N comes in just a single specification, priced at $39,990, with a turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder sending 202kW and 353Nm to the front wheels via a six-speed manual transmission. A variant with a dual-clutch automatic transmission remains in the works.

The i30 Fastback N is the third N model to come from Hyundai’s new performance division, following the regular i30 N hatch, and the Veloster N.

Unfortunately for performance hungry Australians, Veloster N still won’t be taking the boat ride to Australia despite a change of heart around the Fastback. A local Hyundai spokesperson confirmed again to Wheels today that there are no plans for right-hand-drive production of the sporty hatch.

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Aussies looking to put an i30 N in their garage will have to form an orderly queue, as Hyundai Australia says there is currently a six-month waiting list for the Korean hot hatch locally.

The i30 Fastback N is expected to land on our shores sometime in 2019, following an official reveal later this year.