PHOTOGRAPHY JOHN WYCHERLEY
W e’ve been here before. Three years ago, we named Hyundai our Manufacturer of the Year. This was based on a trio of impressive products, both naughty (the i30N hot hatch) and nice (the hybrid Ioniq and electric Kona). They all remain on sale, joined by an even more diverse and talented cast of characters.
The i20N is, in practice, a shrunken i30N with a liberal layer of polish applied. In reality, it’s even more than the sum of its promising parts, a hench little performance car that somehow feels pleasingly basic yet thoroughly engineered. Can’t prise yourself from a crossover? The i20N launched almost in tandem with the Kona N, a thoroughly unique proposition that’s even more of a ‘doing it on their own terms’ quick SUV than a Cayenne or Urus.