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Hyundai Elantra GT N Line expands N performance lineup with mild upgrades

Down with the Hyundai Elantra GT Sport, long live the Elantra GT N Line! For 2019, Hyundai is ditching the Sport moniker for its Elantra hatchback in order to align with the naming for its new N performance kingdom. So, technically, the GT Sport isn't going anywhere, as it's essentially the same model. With slight aesthetic, powertrain, and chassis upgrades, the GT N Line marks history for the Hyundai as the introduction of the mildly spicy N Line trim to the U.S. market. Hyundai sees itself as having five different tiers of vehicles. It starts with the base models, the next-highest are the N Line vehicles, and N performance automobiles are above that. Atop all three of these vehicles will be a halo car that Hyundai considers a "brand shaper," with motorsport cars representing the top-level pinnacle of development. An option for custom N features will also be available across the base, N Line, and N vehicles. In theory, the structuring is roughly similar to that seen on some Volkswagen vehicles. VW only offers an R high-performance model on the Golf. Several other vehicles in the lineup, however, are available in R-Line trims, which option the models with more attitude. Now that Hyundai has introduced the Veloster N high-performance model, Hyundai will offer the lower-tier N Line trim on multiple vehicles. The Elantra GT N Line is sensibly the first. Make no mistake assuming Hyundai stopped at simply changing the name of the car. Using the 2018 Elantra GT Sport as the bar, Hyundai claims it has increased the engine mount stiffness by 6.3 percent, trans mount stiffness by 24 percent, and the "rollroad" mount stiffness by 37.1 percent. The springs were also stiffened up 14.3 percent in front and 21.9 percent in the rear. The stability bar diameter drops from 24 mm to 23 mm in the front but increases from 14 mm to 17 mm in the rear. The shocks and steering also received fresh tunes, but Hyundai does not list the car's increase in overall rigidity. The cherries on top are new 18-inch Michelin Pilot Sport 4 summer tires on the manual model that replace the old GT Sport's old 18-inch Hankook all-seasons. The car's performance remains the same. It carries over the 1.6-liter turbocharged four-cylinder that makes 201 horsepower and 195 lb-ft of torque. It is offered with a six-speed manual transmission for $24,185 or a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission with paddle shifters for $25,285.

Hyundai considering pickup after good reaction to Santa Cruz

The Hyundai HCD-15 Santa Cruz pickup concept was one of the stars of the 2015 Detroit Auto Show and even earned fifth place on Autoblog's Editors' Choice list of favorite debuts. The strong response might have been enough to get it made. Hyundai research and development director Park Byung-cheol said that the company was considering building the truck, according to Reuters. He warned, though, that there were still some obstacles in the way of the pickup arriving to showrooms without saying what those were. Rumors about Hyundai considering a pickup in the US go back several years but were fruitless. The Santa Cruz's unveiling really reignited things, though. The North American arm of the Korean brand reportedly chose Detroit for the debut so that foreign executives could see the media reaction to the concept. That gamble might have paid off. Hyundai's pickup at dealers might not look like the Santa Cruz concept, though. The company said the version in Detroit had nothing production-ready about it and even lacked an interior. At the time, a platform still hadn't been decided on, and the brand had several internal design studies underway. Related Video:

Hyundai i30 N getting 'fastback' variant

Overseas, the Hyundai i30, known as the Elantra GT here in America, has three total bodystyles. The first of course is the hatchback that we have here, and the other two include a wagon and a "fastback." The latter is basically a sedan with a liftback. It's also apparently the next Hyundai to get the N treatment based on these spy photos. There's no question this i30 fastback is an N. It has huge wheels and bright red brake calipers. The side skirts and rear bumper are more aggressive. And, like the normal hatchback and the Veloster N, it has a triangular rear light. But, unlike those two cars, this triangular light appears to be a rear fog light instead of a center high-mount brake light. This i30 N fastback also has the wide-set dual exhaust outlets of existing Hyundai N models. One major deviation we see on this fastback is the lack of a large rear wing. Both the i30 N hatchback and the Veloster N have large wings at the trailing edge of their respective roofs that just barely walk the line between classy and garish. The fastback seems to lack any wing at all, opting instead for just the little lip of the trunk lid found on the standard fastback. It could be that there's a bigger lip spoiler hidden under this prototype's wrappings, but that's still not a wing. Whenever the fastback does arrive, perhaps within a year, it will likely have the same two engine options available on the i30 N hatchback: a base version of the 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder making 247 horsepower and a hotter iteration making 271 horsepower. The latter of these is the only available engine in the American Veloster N. And it's safe to say we won't be seeing the i30 N fastback in America. Hyundai has already made it clear that the i30 N hatch isn't coming to the U.S., despite the fact we get the normal i30 hatch. Since there's no Americanized i30 fastback, there's effectively no chance Hyundai would try to certify the body style solely for a niche model like the N. Related Video: Featured Gallery 2018 Hyundai i30 N Fastback spy shots View 19 Photos Image Credit: CarPix Spy Photos Hyundai Hatchback Performance Sedan i30 hyundai i30 Hyundai N