Hyundai Is Developing An Engine Just For Mid-Engined Cars

It still feels a little bit strange to think that, of all companies, Hyundai is keeping the enthusiast flame burning more than plenty of others. It delivered two sensational hot hatches right off the bat with the i30 and i20 N, and was the first to truly convince us that a performance EV could be as good, if not better, than a comparable petrol car with the Ioniq 5 N.

Its ambitions don’t stop with hot EVs, though, as in a Korean-language interview for the company’s YouTube channel, Hyundai engine researcher Daehee Kim has confirmed that the company is working on a combustion engine specifically for mid-engined applications. Wait, what?

The relevant bit comes just under a minute into the interview, where Kim (in comments auto-translated from Korean) says “We’re currently developing an MR engine,” with an on-screen caption clarifying that he’s referring to a midship, rear-wheel drive configuration. He goes on to describe it as “a high-speed performance engine,” and says that while development hasn’t been easy, it’s steadily approaching readiness.

All this begs the question: what exactly is this engine for? It’s not the first time Hyundai has flirted with the notion of a mid-engined car – in 2019, it revealed the RM19 concept, essentially a mid-engined Veloster, and even went as far as extensively testing a disguised prototype. The project, though, was ultimately killed in 2022 for cost reasons.

After that, it seemed that all future cars from the N performance brand would be electric, but the company, like so many others, has since rowed that idea back, and it seems likely that combustion engines will play some role in Hyundai’s upcoming performance cars.

Perhaps the most obvious candidate for the engine would be a production version of the N Vision 74, 2022’s staggering retro-styled concept that Hyundai is reportedly still working on making a reality. While the concept was a hydrogen fuel cell hybrid, it’s likely that any potential production version will use a more commercially viable powertrain.

Either way, Kim works for a team which he says aims to develop engines to meet regulatory and market requirements, and produce them en masse, so the midship engine is likely being developed for something more than, say, a motorsport application. Whatever Hyundai’s working on, we’ll be watching this story closely.