In a statement, Hyundai Automotive South Africa Sales and Operations Director, Stanley Anderson, said that the pictures posted by the Zero2Turbo Instagram page in fact showed a number of i30 N’s that are destined for Australia, and which were not imported at the behest of the Korean automaker’s local division which currently have no plans in place to bring it into the country.
Andreson however stated that, “the door is always open for that to happen when the circumstances prove to be right for such a venture. We are aware that - based on comments and reactions on social and local online media - quite an appetite exists for the launch of this performance car that was developed under the leadership of Albert Biermann at the Hyundai Motor Group. We are watching the game”.
Unveiled in July last year as first official model from Hyundai’s N performance range, the i30 N pack a 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine that is offered in two outputs; 184kW and 202kW in the Performance model, with torque for both being capped at 353Nm.
Like the Honda Civic Type R, the i30 N is available only with a six-speed manual gearbox although a seven-speed dual-clutch is reportedly under development, with Hyundai claiming a limited top speed of 250km/h and respective acceleration times of 6.4 and 6.2 seconds.
