Over in Europe, they have the 120, 130, and 130 N hatchback. The N cars are powered by two engines, the i20 N subcompact features a 1.6 liter turbocharged four banger. Hyundai claims that the i20 N weighs the same as their WRC championship rally car. That's pretty sick. I would very much like to drive one.

The rest of N's lineup is powered by a 275 horsepower two-liter engine, and these cars freaking slap, dude. (upbeat music) Albert Biermann was the special sauce Hyundai needed to turn their okay sports cars into legitimate sports cars. Turns out, when you hire a guy who's been building some of the best cars in the world for 30 years, he's gonna build you a good car. But, the question remains, are these N cars cool? That's a hard question to answer.

Cool is entirely subjective. What I think is cool might be entirely different than what you think is cool. The nature of cool itself is extremely fickle. If you try to be cool, you're not gonna be cool. Think about street wear, a brand that's cool one week, can be whacked the next, and conversely things that were once dorky, can become cool in time. Hyundai maybe they weren't trying to build cool cars, they were just trying to build good cars. And if publications like Road & Track and Motor Trend, or any number of serious car people are to be trusted, the Veloster N is a really, really good car.

It took 34 years but Hyundai finally produced one of the best budget sports cars in the world. That's pretty cool. So, where did they go from here? Late last year, Hyundai announced that Albert Biermann would be leaving his role as the leader of the N division. He'll be around to advise Hyundai but he's no longer at the helm. It's a little sad but the N vision has some pretty sweet stuff in the works like a mid-engine hatchback that we should be seeing around 2024. Really looking forward to that.

It's also very likely that the Ioniq 5 EV will get the N treatment, which also has potential to be sick. But I think the biggest key to Hyundai's enthusiast loyalty can't come from Hyundai at all. In my research, something interesting kept popping up in YouTube comments and forum posts. Hyundai owners love their rides but a common thread between older Hyundai sports cars is that performance almost always plateaued because of the lack of an aftermarket. People bought their Scoupes and Tiburons and Genesis Coupes then didn't have a whole lot of stuff to bolt on when they wanted more out of them.

Contrast that with the 350Z or WRX, which have an enormous amount of aftermarket support. Luckily the tide seems to be shifting with the Veloster N. You can get suspension and big brake kits granted from a small number of vendors but it's getting better. To their credit Hyundai has partnered with shops like Bisimoto to show what you can do with their cars in an attempt to stoke the coals of the aftermarket. Big old bellows to blow the air on those coals.

Partnerships like that are key to get car nerds interested as crazy builds get more press. Hyundai finally found their way to cool with performance. This current crop of N cars have made huge headway in persuading people to join team Hyundai. On my Instagram, @nolanjsykes by the way, I asked people what they thought of Hyundai and I was blown away by the positive responses.

Without N, I don't think they'd be so positive. People whose opinions hold a lot of weight hit me up saying Hyundai is the most exciting accessible brand at the moment. So whatever they're doing, it's working. Thank you very much for watching Wheelhouse. I've been knee deep in Hyundai research over the past couple weeks. It was pretty fascinating to learn about some of those cars like the Scoupe, I never heard of that one. Tiburon, it's all right if you have one of those, good on you. If you've got a cool Hyundai post some pics tag me I wanna see them.

Like a month ago we had a Kona N at the office, I took it out to the crest, it was a great car that DCT shifts super fast and I was really impressed that a little crossover could be that fun to drive. Yeah, we'll see what happens from here. More fun cars in the market is always a good thing. Alright see you next time. Be kind, bye.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- In the mid 2000s,Hyundai had a problemthat they were unable to prove with data,the brand wasn't cool.The company's US salesfigures were decent,tucked below Japan's big threeand above Kia, Infiniti, and Acura.But the brand lackedthe enthusiast loyaltythey believed could take their reputationto the next level.Hyundai USA, turned their gazeto the attainable sports car market.The major players had much in common,two doors, around 300 horsepower,and most importantly rear wheel drive.Hyundai decided their best betto capture the enthusiast marketwould be to build a carlike this of their own.They did, and it failed.But it also shaped theHyundai we know today,which recently becamethe fifth largest automaker in the worldand gain some clout in the process.So how did Hyundai get cool?Are they cool?Let's find out.- Check out Donut's newbadass, We Buy Junk Car shirt.Get it in this nice black and yellowor this luxurious white and warm red.Mm. Plus, if you order right nowwe're gonna include these,limited edition We BuyJunk Cars business cardsso you can help spread the word, junk.And unlike these junkcars, this shirt is qualitythat lasts at the low price of$29.98 which is much cheaperthan buying one of these used junk cars.Yeah, this is a great piece of junk.So, go to donutmedia.comto pick up your junk car shirt today.This thing is sick.- Hyundai's reputationdepends on who you talk toand we'll get to that later.But when they first arrived in America,people all felt pretty much the same.In the mid 80s, the American marketfor hyper economy carswas becoming underserved.While manufacturers like Honda and Nissanbegan their stories sellingbare bones economy carsfor frugal drivers.They eventually positioned themselvesup market to compete directlywith more luxurious American car makers.This left a sizable openingin the market for smaller manufacturersfrom countries not usuallyincluded in the conversationlike Yugo from Yugoslavia andKorean new comer, Hyundai.Hyundai's first car inAmerica arrived in 1986.The somewhat ironically named Excelmade nearly 70 horsepowerand that's kind of the onlyinteresting thing about it.Underneath the exterior designedby industry legend, Giorgetto Giugiaro,the Excel shared its architecturewith the MitsubishiMirage, another econobox.So far the Excel soundsexceedingly mundanebut Hyundai had a prettybig trick up their sleeve.In 1986, the Excel cost $4,995,a little less than$13,000 in today's money.So, sure, the vinylinterior felt a bit cheap,0 to 60 took over 16 secondsand a tachometer wasn't standard.But when you're payingthat little for a car,people were more than willingto overlook those issuesand boy, did they.In Hyundai's first year in America,they sold over 168,000cars in the US aloneand 1 million worldwide.When taking a look at first year salesof other foreign manufacturers,Hyundai did pretty damn well.And look, people who bought these carsknew what they were getting into.The Excel's pricewas half of the new caraverage at the time.You could feasibly buy two ofthese for the price of one,an idea Hyundai actuallyused in their ad copy.So while paying customersaccepted the shortcomingsof a cheap car and loved them for it,people who didn't drive an Excelonly saw it as a cheapcar with zero features.Thus, beginning Hyundai'stwo pronged reputationwhich would persist for decades.Even though initial salesfor Hyundai were strong,it didn't take long beforethe company would sensethat something was amiss.Two years in the US andthey are already knewthat people didn't thinkvery highly of the brand.The eight ladies inearly 90s were prime timefor hot hatches like theGolf GTI and Honda CRX.Cars built for young driverswho wanted something fun,but affordable.Honda said, hey, we'vegot something affordable,all we gotta do is make it fun.Then the kids willthink we're cool, right?Did they succeed?Eh.Hyundai introduced the Scoupe in 1988.This two door four seaterwasn't a hatchback like the CRXbut it was sporty lookingand looks were maybe theonly sporty thing about it.Underneath the pointy body wasthat same Excel chassisand asthmatic engine.There was also a turbo version,but it was also kind ofslow from what I can tell.Now, that's not to say,that Hyundai didn't try with the Scoupebecause when it came to the suspension,Hyundai went over to jolly old Englandand asked Lotus to helpthem out with the handling.The result was what MotorWeek called, fun,in their 1991 review.That was a win for Hyundai.They knew what their reputation was.They were upfront about it.Unfortunately for the Scoupe,MotorWeek also pointed outthat while the Honda CRXwas a thousand dollarsmore than the Hyundai,the CRX had more power, handled betterand got better fuel mileage.So after seven short years oflife, the Scoupe got the boot.Hyundai's quest for cool,had hit a speed bump.Hyundai's follow up to theScoupe wasn't far behind.Instead of reusing an oldplatform they didn't design,Hyundai went with a brand new carnamed after my favoriteanimal class, Chondrichthyes.Con, condre fight. Condre thighs?- Chondrichthyes.- Chondrichthyes.- Chondrichthyes.(host giggling)- I'm talking about sharks, baby.Do you know what theycall sharks in Spanish?Tiburón.Like the pursuit of the GTI and CRX,the Tiburon targeted the new hotnessin attainable sports cars,front wheel drive sports coupes.Your Celicas, yourEclipses, your Preludes.It was super apparent, Hondawas going after this audience.The first gen Tiburon wasbasically a great value,six gen Celica.Can I be vulnerable for a second?I kind of like this one,there's somethingendearing in it's ugliness.It's like a pug.Yeah, you're ugly, butyou're also so cute.You make loud noises.The styling got a littlebetter with the second gen tip.Remember earlier when I saidHyundai had a two-prongedreputation, where Hyundaiowners loved their carsand people who didn't,thought they were junk.Well, this was especiallytrue with the Tiburon.Go into any comment sectionon content about these carsand you'll be seeing peoplesinging their praises all day.(hallelujah playing)The Tib was reliableand apparently the 2.7 literV6 could take a ton of abuse.Even Richard Hammond,had this to say about theHyundai coupe on Top Gear.- It's just a good drive. Fact.- People love their Tiburon,they might be at the samelevel as Crown Vic ownersin their devotion.Even though the Tib hada faithful following,I don't really think itsucceeded in being cool.It came out in a time whenHyundai still had a reputationfor being cheap and theTiburon was positionedas an entry level car inthe sports coupe market,a market that was alreadyseen as entry level.If the Celica was the first stepinto the sports car staircase,the Tib was that small halfstep you stub your toe on.It was there,but it's just easier to raiseyour leg a little higher.Cool attempt number threecame in the mid 2000s.The Xbox 360 had just launched,smartphones weren't really a thing yet,the great recession was just bloomingin the distance menacingly,times were good.But Hyundai still hadn't made a cool car.That was gonna change.Maybe they were looking atthings wrong this whole time.It's really hard for any companyto make a cool subcompactso of course the Scoupe didn't work.It's really hard to designan iconic front wheel drive sports coupe,so the Tiburon could be forgiven.Maybe they should have just made a carin a class that was inherently cool.I'm talking about rear wheel sports cars.Hyundai took a long look at the carsyoung buyers really wanted,the 350Z, S2000, Infiniti G37.If they could just buildsomething like that,maybe things would bedifferent this time around.What they came up with,was the 2010 Genesis Coupe.This thing checked all the boxes,rear wheel drive, independentrear suspension, two door,multiple engine choicesincluding a turbocharged option,manual transmission and affordable.If you put all those attributestogether in a car today,it would be a banger.Let's talk about the positives first.Both the naturally aspirated 3.8 liter V6and the turbocharge twoliter are solid engines.The lore around these power plants isthat the cheaper turbofour banger was intendedfor the tuner crowd, a more affordable carthat could be customizedto the owner's preference.In fact, the two liter canbe tuned with some bolt-onsto make around the same power as the V6but with extensive enginework and a bigger turbothe small Theta can makeover 500 wheel horsepower.That's pretty impressive.This is a total digressionbut sometimes you'llhear a Genesis owner jokethat their cars a rear wheel drive Evo.Here's what they mean.Hyundai's Theta fourcylinder engine was designedwith cooperation of theGlobal Manufacturing Alliance,a consortium between Chrysler,Hyundai and Mitsubishi.Engines designed in thisAlliance use similar componentsand geometries but they'renot really the same.According to this blog postfrom Pavel's Racing Engines,the two engines looksimilar on the outsidebut the only aftermarketparts they can shareare some head boltstuds and a head gasket.It's not exactly a carbon copy.So sorry, Tanner.As for the larger 3.8 liter Lambda V6that was for someone whowanted to drive the caras it came from the factory.It can also handle nitrous pretty reliablyand from what I've read,that's the best way to makepower with this engine.Hyundai was really going after the heartsand minds of car nerdswith the Genesis Coupe.Throughout its life,the car was offered withperformance upgradesincluding a top trimlevel called Track Editionwhich featured beefed upsuspension and Brembo brakes.But despite building a legit sports carthat even Car and Driverloved in their review,Hyundai still adheredto their thrifty roots.A top trim Track EditionV6 coupe costs $375 lessthan a base level Nissan, 370Z.But was it cool?It's really hard to say,it's like a reverseTiburon situation here.The drivetrain was good.The car handled well enough.I just don't think the styling was there.Look at the first and second gen carsand put them next to the competition.Nissan was bringing the heat in those daysand the Genesis kinda looks like a car.I'm sorry to say, it'sjust not cool looking.So Hyundai tried three timesand it didn't really work outbut as Thomas Edison famously equippedwhen asked about his failureswhen inventing the light bulb,I've not failed,I've just found 10,000 waysthat don't make a sports car.With that spirit inmind, Hyundai persisted.Right before the GenesisCoupe's death in 2016,Hyundai made one of the bestdecisions in company history.Albert Biermann was fresh out of schoolwhen he was hired by BMW in the early 80sto work on the E30 road car.Albert's area of expertisewas chassis engineering.Albert was a racing fanatic,but company tradition dictatedthat only senior engineerswere allowed to work on race cars.However, the experienced engineersthat would've normally taken that jobwere heavily focused onroad car development.So, somehow Albert was able toget a spot on the race team.Albert's biggest contributionto the project was his role cage.His steel design madethe E30 twice as stiffas the old 635 racerbut Albert's cage wasseven pounds lighter.Fast forward to 2008and Albert became the vicepresident of BMW's M division.If there's an M carfrom the mid two 2000sonward that you like,Albert played a bigrole in making it cool.This guy knows his (beep)which is why the car worldwas thrown off its racing linewhen Hyundai hired Albert in 2014.Officially, Biermannwas hired as Hyundai'sHead of Vehicle Test andHigh Performance division.Albert's first task wassorting out the upcoming,G90 executive sedan.But what Hyundai really broughtthe German to Seoul to do,was to build some badass cars.Hyundai was in the preliminary stagesof establishing theirown performance brandmuch like, the M division,Biermann had just left.They called their skunkworks, N for Namyangor Nurburgring depending on who you ask.Namyang is Hyundai's proving groundwhere the N division is basedand they also have aresearch center at the ring,so it works both ways.Today, N division is cranked out six carswith three of them available in the US.Over here, we get theVeloster N, the Elantra Nand the Kona N.Over in Europe, they have the120, 130 and 130 N hatchback.The N cars are powered by two engines,the i20 N subcompact featuresa 1.6 liter turbocharge four banger.Hyundai claims that thei20 N weighs the sameas their WRC championship rally car.That's pretty sick. I wouldvery much like to drive one.The rest of N's lineupis powered by a 275horsepower two liter engineand these cars freaking slap, dude.(upbeat music)Albert Biermann was thespecial sauce Hyundai neededto turn their okay sports carsinto legitimate sports cars.Turns out, when you hire aguy who's been building someof the best cars inthe world for 30 years,he's gonna build you a good car.But, the question remains,are these N cars cool?That's a hard question to answer.Over the course of writing this episode,I realized I didn't reallyknow how I was gonna end it.The problem is that coolis entirely subjective.What I think is cool mightbe entirely differentthan what you think is cool.The nature of cool itselfis extremely fickle.If you try to be cool,you're not gonna be cool.Think about street wear,a brand that's cool oneweek, can be whacked the nextand conversely thingsthat were once dorky,can become cool in time.Hyundai maybe they weren'ttrying to build cool cars,they were just trying to build good cars.And if publications likeRoad & track and MotorTrendor any number of serious carpeople are to be trusted,the Veloster N, is areally, really good car.It took 34 years butHyundai finally producedone of the best budgetsports cars in the world.That's pretty cool.So, where did they go from here?Late last year, Hyundai announcedthat Albert Biermannwould be leaving his role,as the leader of the N division.He'll be around to advise Hyundaibut he's no longer at the helm.It's a little sadbut the N vision has somepretty sweet stuff in the workslike a mid engine hatchbackthat we should be seeing around 2024.Really looking forward to that.It's also very likelythat the Ioniq 5 EVwill get the N treatmentwhich also has potential to be sick.But I think the biggest keyto Hyundai's enthusiast loyalty,can't come from Hyundai at all.In my of research, somethinginteresting kept popping upin YouTube comments and forum posts.Hyundai owners love their rides,but a common thread betweenolder Hyundai sports carsis that performancealmost always plateauedbecause the lack of an aftermarket.People bought their Scoupesand Tiburons and Genesis Coupes then,didn't have a wholelot of stuff to bolt onwhen they wanted more out of them.Contrast that with the 350Z or WRX,which have an enormous amountof aftermarket support.Luckily the tide seems to beshifting with the Veloster N.You can get suspensionand big brake kits grantedfrom a small number of vendors,but it's getting better.To their credit, Hyundaihas partnered with shopslike Bisimoto to show whatyou can do with their carsin an attempt to stoke thecoals of the aftermarket.Big old bellow to blowthe air on those coals.Partnerships like that are keyto get car nerds interestedas crazy builds get more press.Hyundai finally found theirway to cool with performance.This current crop of Ncars have made huge headwayin persuading people to join team Hyundai.On my Instagram, @nolanjsykes by the way,I asked people whatthey thought of Hyundaiand I was blown away bythe positive responses.Without N, I don't thinkthey'd be so positive.People whose opinionshold a lot of weight,hit me up, saying Hyundaiis the most excitingaccessible brand at the moment.So, whatever they're doing, it's working.Thank you very much forwatching Wheelhouse.I've been knee deepin Hyundai research overthe past couple weeks.It was pretty fascinating tolearn about some of those cars,like the Scoupe, Inever heard of that one.Tiburon, it's all right.If you have one of those, good on you.If you've got a cool Hyundai,post some pics, tag me, I wanna see them.Like a month ago we hada Kona N at the office,I took it out to the crest,it was a great car, thatDCT shifts super fastand I was really impressedthat a little crossovercould be that fun to drive.Yeah, we'll see what happens from here.More fun cars in the marketis always a good thing.All right.See you next time. Be kind, bye.