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Hyundai Tucson N Confirmed, Likely To Go Official In 2019

2019 Hyundai Tucson 16 photos
Photo: Stefan Baldauf/SB-Medien
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Having made its premiere at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show, the third-generation Tucson is up for a mid-cycle refresh. The facelift, which has been spied testing in northern Sweden time and time again, is expected to arrive in July at Seoul Auto Salon 2018.
And with a little luck, an N-branded performance version will be added to the lineup to rival the competition, which includes the likes of the Cupra Ateca. Stop me if you heard this one before, but this time around, global head of sales Byung Kwon Rhim made it clear that the Tucson N “is under development, and other models will come after that.” The Kona is also considered for the N treatment.

According to Auto Express, “details on the hot SUV are thin on the ground at this stage.” With most of the development likely to happen in Europe at the automaker’s facilities in Germany, the expectations are high and there’s a case to be made for the 2.0-liter T-GDi that churns out 275 PS (271 bhp) in the i30 N hot hatchback.

Expected to arrive sometime in the second half of 2019, the Tucson N will be equipped with performance-tuned all-wheel-drive, sports suspension perfected on the Nurburgring, and bigger brakes. The steering rack is also certain to benefit from the N division’s attention. The drive mode selector, meanwhile, should mirror the choices offered in the i30 N: Eco, Normal, Spot, N, and the adjustable N Custom.

The Tucson N would join the i30 N and Veloster N, two models that are more about the driving experience rather than best-in-class this and zero to 60 that. It will be an utmost capable crossover, but don’t expect it to outdo the competition on paper.

Sister brand Kia, as a brief reminder, has the next best thing to the Tucson N. It’s called the Sportage SX Turbo, and in U.S. specification, the turbocharged 2.0-liter engine is good for up to 240 horsepower and 260 pound-feet (353 Nm) of torque.
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About the author: Mircea Panait
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After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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