Hyundai i20 N, i30 N orders to reopen soon

HYUNDAI Australia has confirmed it will reopen its order books for the high-performance i20 N light hatch and the i30 N range in the coming months.

Wait times for the i20 N had stretched out to a reported two years, leading to its books being closed in August 2022. While the i30 N hatchback order books closed earlier in 2023 due to excessive demand for the budget-friendly hot-hatch, which looks like a comparative steal against the now much pricier VW Golf GTI and Honda Civic Type R.

However, it remains unclear what the fix will be for buyers, despite wait times stretching out to 12 months for the i30 N hatchback. Reports had suggested that the model might have reached the end of its life, but recent spy images of a facelifted and updated version of the i30 hatch means another freshen-up is likely.

That could mean that orders for the updated model will open up alongside the updated and facelifted i20 N. The standard i20 facelift has already been unveiled globally. 

Hyundai Australia, John Kett, called the brand’s local performance portfolio a ‘critical part’ of the brand’s mix, and implied that the brand had heard the frustrations of its customers regarding order books and wait times.

“At some point we will,” he said when asked about reopening the books.

“We’re definitely putting a solution in place and we want to talk about it sometime towards the end of the year, on both of those models,” he stated. “i20 N and i30 N are important vehicles for our portfolio.

“There’s a few constraints that we’ve got to work through to get our share of them. They’re important parts of our business, and we will make sure you know about it when they go back on sale,” said Mr Kett.

Hyundai Australia combines the N and N Line models under one umbrella for its sales – N Line models typically have a sportier look than the standard cars, but do not necessarily have dramatically different performance or driving dynamics – and Mr Kett pointed out that, despite the shortage of the full-fat N cars in 2023, sales are up for the sporty model range.

A lot of that – 58 per cent of it, in fact – is down to a high order take rate on Tucson N Line variants, which incorporate a number of key design changes and include a worthwhile upgrade to full exterior LED lighting on the lower grade models. Tucson N Line models also account for 45 per cent of the total orders for that model range, too. 

So far in 2023, N and N Line models have accounted for 29 per cent of total Hyundai Australia sales, an increase of 2.4 per cent year-on-year.

Also playing against that number is the fact that the i30 Fastback N is no longer available, and that the first-generation Kona N is now in runout – with no full-fat N version confirmed for that model line in its second generation.

The current i20 N is one of the country’s most affordable performance cars, with a list price of $34,990 before on-road costs.

It sits in a space that is finding itself with fewer and fewer rivals, the Ford Fiesta ST having been axed recently. The Suzuki Swift Sport ($27,990 + ORC) undercuts it handsomely, but is nowhere near as performance-oriented, and the VW Polo GTI ($39,250 + ORC) is more expensive, but is now available as a dual-clutch automatic model only, and the Toyota GR Yaris is far, far more expensive ($49,500 + ORC) and has order bank issues of its own.

The current i30 N hatch starts at $46,200 + ORC, marking it as the most affordable of the small performance hatchback range. It’s far more affordable than an equivalent Cupra Leon (VZ trim at $51,990 + ORC), Volkswagen Golf GTI ($55,490 + ORC), Toyota GR Corolla GTS ($62,300 + ORC) or Honda Civic Type R ($72,000 drive-away – if you can get one).