What happened to Hyundai's N mid-engine supercar. Know here

Do you know Hyundai, at one point, was working on an N-badged supercar with a mid-engine layout? Yes, you read that right. The South Korean auto major was indeed working on a mid-engine supercar that would have been its halo model. However, the auto company decided to ditch the project in the middle of the development phase and focused on more attainable performance cars such as the Kona N, i20 N, and the Veloster N, claims a report by Top Gear.

Back in 2017, Hyundai revealed its i30 N revealing its sporty intentions. However, the initial plan was to introduce a far more exciting product than just a compact hot hatch, claims the report. It was the supercar that was internally known as ‘The Chairman’s Car'. Albert Biermann, the former chief of Hyundai's N division, was the driving force behind this supercar project. It was a similar case to BMW M, where Biermann was pushing for a supercar, which never happened either, as the German automaker focused on the plug-in i8 instead.

The report claims that this supercar was being developed with a carbon fibre tub chassis and a petrol engine with an electric motor as part of a hybrid powertrain. The supercar's platform was claimed to have been developed to accommodate a hydrogen fuel cell as well. The reason behind scrapping the project was its absolute high price of around $150,000, which the automaker thought would have been too high for a Hyundai model. The report claims that Biermann now believes it was the right decision to scrap the project.

Meanwhile, the Hyundai N division is reportedly working on a new breed of cars. One of them would be the electric Ioniq 5 N, which is expected to hit the market sometime in 2023 with around 600 hp of peak power output. It is likely to come much faster than the i30 N and feature a dedicated drift mode as well.