2020 Hyundai i30 N Project C

The Hyundai i30 N was what we believed to be the best Hyundai could do with the i30 hatchback. After all, it was tuned and tweaked at the Nurburgring. But then, a year later, Hyundai showed up to the 2019 Frankfurt Auto Show with the i30 N Project C – a limited-production, euro-only i30N that’s more

2020 Hyundai i30 N Project C

Specifications

Make: Array
Model: 2020 Hyundai i30 N Project C
Engine/Motor: inline-4
Horsepower: 271 @ 6000
Torque: 260 @ 4700
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Hyundai i30N Project C Exterior Design

- Slightly more aggressive - Lots of CFRP body parts - Unique color

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Sure, the side skirts are a little more aggressive, and the front splitter is a little more defined. The rear end might even be a little more defined with that revised diffuser at the bottom. All of these new bits and pieces are just side effects of Hyundai’s real intentions, and that was to create a car that was lighter and drivers better than the car it was based on. In fact, Project C stands for exactly that, with “C” standing for “Area C” – a high-performance Circuit at Hyundai Namyang R&D. It also stands for carbon fiber, something that hasn’t been found on Hyundai models before, and it stands for Center of gravity – something that has been improved with the Project C.

If you haven’t put two and two together yet, all of these fresh parts are made from carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP.) This makes every single piece lighter, yet they have also have the revised design to create better aerodynamics. The car has also been lowered by 6 mm (about a quarter of an inch) and, Hyundai has managed to lower the car’s center of gravity by 8.8 mm compared to the range-topping version of the standard i30 N.

According to Hyundai, that makes the Project C better to drive and quicker than ever before. Never mind that fact that it looks downright stunning, to say the least. All told, the Project C weighs some 50 kgs (about 110 pounds) lighter.

Hyundai i30N Project C Interior Design

- Alcantara spread through cabin - New model-specific seats - Deep orange accents - Piston-shapped shifter

Hyundai said very little about the interior, but as you can see, there’s a decent amount of Alcantara scattered throughout the cabin, including on the steering wheel, handbrake, and manual shifter boot. Hyundai even went so far as to create a new shift knob that shares a likeness to a piston – how’s that for ingenuity? Those seats, by the way, are new compared to the i30 N as well, and are something you might expect to be made available at some time in the future for less-exclusive cars. Finally, Hyundai has added a special badge on the passenger side dash to indicate what number out of 600 each individual model represents.

Hyundai i30N Project C Drivetrain & Performance

- Same 2.0-liter from i30N - 271 horsepower - 260 lb-ft f torque - overboost menas 8-percent more torque - lower stance - lower center of gravity - 50 KG lighter

It really feels like Hyundai dropped the ball here. Hyundai put so much work into refining the exterior and interior, making the i30 N lighter, and yet, that’s where it stopped. Under that lighter CFRP hood sits the same 2.0-liter T-GDI found in…. you guessed it….the Hyundai i30 N. This is the same tune configuration that comes with the i30 N Performance Pack, so it pumps out 275 PS (271 horsepower) and 353 nm (260 pound-feet of torque. Of course, with the over-boost function in place, the Project C actually delivers 378 nm of torque.

As for performance, well that remains to be seen, but Hyundai promises that the Project C is quicker and we have a tendency to believe its engineers. After all, the Project C is 110 pounds lighter than the car it’s based on, sits just a hair lower, has much lighter wheels (about 44-pounds lighter), and revised aerodynamics. The i30 N performance Package can get to 60 mph in 6.1 seconds, so we suspect the Project C can do it in 5.9 or 6.0 seconds flat. Furthermore, the lower center of gravity, revised suspension, and the new aerodynamics should compute to a car that handles better than ever.

After all, that’s what it was built for and tested at Hyundai’s Namyang R&D Center and the Nurburgring. Hyundai hasn’t given us any details in terms of performance times around either track, but you can bet it’s quicker than any other I30 that’s ever rolled off the production line.

2020 Hyundai i30 N Project C specifications

Engine	THETA 2.0 T-GDI, 16-valve MLA, DOHC E-CVVT
Capacity	1998 cc
Bore x stroke	86.0 x 86.0 mm
Compression ratio	9.5
Power	275 PS (202 kW) @ 6000 rpm
Torque	353 Nm @ 1450 ~ 4700 rpm 378 Nm with Overboost Function @ 1750-4200rpm
Turbocharger boost pressure	2.3 bar max
Maximum speed (km/h)	250
0-100 km/h (seconds)	6.0
CO2 combined (g/km NEDC 2.0 target)*	176*
Fuel Consumption urban/extra urban/combined (l/100 km)*	5.7/9.7/7.1

Final Thoughts

It appears as if Hyundai is trying to flex its muscles a bit but showing what it could do if it really wanted to. It almost feels like Hyundai is just toying with us a bit, though, as we always knew that the i30 N has more potential than what it was really offering. There’s no doubt that the Project C could be even better than it is as that 2.0-liter engine could easily be tuned to deliver more. This leaves me to wonder what Hyundai has up its sleeve next, beyond this limited-production model. Will there be a more powerful version of the i30 N coming to the states since this one is destined only for the Euro market? Or, is Hyundai just trying to keep attention on the i30 and i30N for now? I guess only time will tell.