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Hyundai Tucson N due in two years with ‘at least 340 hp’

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Almost one year ago,

Auto Express

quoted

Hyundai’s

global head of sales as saying that

a Tucson N “is under development

, and other models will come after that.” The same publication says it can confirm the

Tucson

N will appear within two years, bringing an N-tuned powertrain with it that corrals

340

horsepower.

AE

says N division engineers are shooting for a 0 to 60 time under six seconds for the

Tucson

N, because, according to “an insider,”

Hyundai

is “not interested in making also-ran cars with N badges on them in whatever class they compete.” The 275-hp

Veloster N

has been timed at 5.2 seconds for the same dash. Depending on final output, Hyundai should be safe to get a vehicle expected to weigh about 800 pounds more than the

Veloster

N to meet the target. Precedent’s already been established by the Germans, which is who Hyundai’s N division wants to play with anyway. The 362-hp

Mercedes-AMG GLC 43

weighs 4,153 pounds and gets to 60 miles per hour in 4.8 seconds, the 4,321-pound, 369-hp

Audi SQ5

makes it in 5.1 seconds. The coming

BMW X3 M

is expected to fall between 400 and 450 hp, and could best the whole field.

If the power and performance numbers holds true, the Tucson N would not only be the most powerful N offering when it arrives, it would murder every one of its traditional competitors. The output front-runner

Ford Escape

comes in with 245 hp, the fan favorite

Toyota RAV4

tops out at 203 hp, the driving-dynamics leader

Mazda CX-5

maxes out at 187 hp.

AE said the Tucson N will arrive as “towards the end of the current model’s lifecycle.” This seems like an odd choice. Every N car so far has been introduced with a new generation of the applicable model. Previous generations of the Tucson have lasted exactly five years; with the present Tucson on sale since 2016, an N version coming in two years would couldn’t do anything more than make the most of an old platform, countering what has so far been a winning strategy.

We should know a bunch more before two years is up, though. Before the

crossover

shows, the i20 N will roll out of the N pipeline for international markets in early 2020.

from Autoblog http://bit.ly/2UxrNZu