Hyundai’s N brand could be expanding. The South Korean automaker recently filed a trademark application for the N Sport name, which included an image of its planned logo, suggesting that Hyundai is planning another level of its growing performance brand.
Hyundai currently splits the N catalog into two lines, including the full-fat N cars and the N-Line models, which get more of an appearance upgrade than a performance boost. The new N Sport models could land somewhere in the middle, offering modest power and handling improvements without going all-out.
We don’t yet know which vehicles could see the N Sport treatment, or if Hyundai even plans to bring the vehicles to the United States. If it did, there’s room for a wider array of vehicles in its catalog. The automaker could also rely on any number of propulsion systems for the new cars, including plug-in hybrid, hybrid, and turbocharged gas engines. We may also finally see the incredible N Vision 74 come to life as the N program expands.
There’s precedent for this kind of expansion, though mostly among premium brands. BMW offers M Sport models, which split the difference between standard and M vehicles, and Audi buyers can opt for an S-Line package for some cars that brings similar improvements. Of course, trademark applications don’t mean anything concrete is going to happen, so like all future product speculation, we’ll have to wait and see what happens.
[Images: Hyundai]
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