Hyundai N is preparing a car unlike anything the brand has offered before: a front-engined model with rear-wheel drive. That layout should open one of N's biggest “blind spots” — a segment Hyundai itself estimates at roughly 22% of the global high-performance market. It is a serious change of direction: the petrol-powered i20 N and i30 N relied on front-wheel drive, while the Ioniq 5 N and Ioniq 6 N shifted the spotlight to electric power.
The new project appeared in materials from Hyundai CEO Investor Day on August 26, 2026. The company officially confirmed a major expansion of the N family and a target of 100,000 sales a year by 2030. For comparison, full-fat N models were estimated at around 20,000 sales in 2025. Hyundai is not simply adding another couple of fast cars — it wants to turn N into a much bigger business.
Evo reports that the new performance model will place its engine up front and drive the rear wheels, with the architecture also allowing all-wheel drive. The publication also points to a hybrid powertrain with an internal-combustion engine. But here comes the twist: Hyundai's public statement does not reveal the powertrain type for this car. It is therefore too early to call it a mild, full or plug-in hybrid as a confirmed production specification.
The layout matters more here than any speculative power figure. According to Hyundai, front-engined rear- and all-wheel-drive cars form a segment with about 22% potential coverage of the global high-performance market. That is not Hyundai's promised sales share, but the size of an area N has barely entered so far. In architecture, the future car could move closer to the BMW M3 and its rivals, although Hyundai is still keeping the body style, dimensions, power and pricing secret.
And the ambitions do not stop there. Hyundai intends to expand N's coverage of high-performance market segments from roughly 30% to 60% while also launching a more accessible tier of sporty cars. It will sit between regular N Line models and full N cars — much as the BMW M340i sits below the M3. More sporty machines, more buyers and far less distance between a styling package and a genuine N model.
Now the biggest question is not even horsepower. Hyundai still has to reveal the mysterious car's body style, platform and powertrain. Only then will we know what the Koreans are really preparing: a standalone Hyundai N, a technical relative of future Genesis models or something entirely unexpected. Judging by the strategy through 2030, one single new model clearly will not be the end of it.
