Hyundai commits to manual in N models

Hyundai has become the latest automaker to express support for keeping the manual gearbox for its performance N models.

Although it announced last year that an eight-speed dual-clutch ‘box would become available on the i30 N, and debut with the Kona N, its Head of Product Planning in Australia, Howard Lam, maintained that a three-pedal layout will be kept in spite of the market being skewed towards self-shifters.

“Where possible, we would continue to like to offer buyers the choice of a manual transmission for purists or the eight-speed dual-clutch transmission. It’s hard to say what growth we will achieve, but we understand that our competitors who offer an automatic have achieved significant mix with those transmission. We’ll just have to wait,” Lam told motoring.com.au.

In addition to the i30 N and Kona N, Hyundai will also be introducing to the i20 N Down Under, whose 1.6 T-GDI engine is set to produce 150 kW, delivered to the front wheels via a six-speed manual or a brand-new seven-speed dual-clutch.

Incidentally, Hyundai South Africa, when contacted by The Citizen Motoring, revealed that it its monitoring the i30 N as a way of assessing possible introduction of the i20 N to the local market. If given the green light, expect this to happen in the middle or latter half of 2021.

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