Hyundai's N division has been cooking up something special.
In addition to developing hot hatches and high-powered electric cars, they are applying their craft to something different altogether.
On the menu for the past decade or so is a mid-engined performance car, which is unlike anything they've built to date.
Dubbed the Racing Midship (RM) project, it first unveiled the RM14 as a mid-engined rear-wheel drive Veloster, which produces around 224kW.
The RM15 built on that with a 2.0-litre engine that can do the 0-100km/h sprint in 4.7 seconds, before Hyundai created a supercharged example in the RM16.
Hyundai also revealed a RM19 concept car back in 2019, that kept the Veloster body shape.
More than 10 years on from RM14, Hyundai may be continuing their mid-engined project.
According to online publication Motor1, in an official YouTube video, a researcher in the engine design team from the Korean branch of Hyundai confirmed that a midship rear-wheel drive engine is in development.
Engineers have admitted that they are "experiencing many difficulties" in engine development.
The Midship project will feature a unique engine configuration and design "that has never existed before".
The company’s stated goal is to “develop an engine that meets the performance requirements of the market and to mass-produce it without any problems.”
The RM project has seen Hyundai dabble in the mid-engined realm usually dominated by high-end performance carmakers such as Ferrari and McLaren.
A mid-engined car achieves better weight distribution to aid fast cornering and handling generally, but it is usually reserved for bigger body shapes than Hyundai's prospect.
Whether this car will ever make it to production is unclear, but it could be the next evolution of the brand's N performance division.
Hot hatches such as the Hyundai i20 N and i30 N have generated competition to the long serving Volkswagen Golf and Polo GTIs.
Hyundai has delved into electric performance with the Ioniq 5 N and Ioniq 6 N. The latter boasts 478kW and 770Nm, capable of a 0-100km/h time of 3.2 seconds.
