Hyundai i20 N is OFFICIAL as Hyundai show the performance i20 playing in the snow

The next instalment of Hyundai’s performance adventure is officially confirmed as we get ‘spy’ images from Hyundai of the i20 N winter testing.

It’s three years since Hyundai upset the established hierarchy for hot hatches with the arrival of the remarkably able i30 N, delivering, as a first effort, a car which stands up completely to established competition from Ford and Volkswagen.

But it’s also three years too since we reported that Hyundai would follow on from the reveal of the i30 N with an i20 N to take on the Ford Fiesta ST. Although we expected it to arrive in 2018.

But, two years on from when we expected it to arrive, Hyundai has finally, and officially, confirmed the i20 N is on its way with their own ‘spy’ images of the i20 N out playing in the snow in Sweden.

But despite revealing the i20 N (a prototype i20 N, to be accurate) out in the wild, Hyundai has still made sure it’s covered in bin bags to hide any interesting detail, and are completely unforthcoming about what lies beneath.

What little we can glean includes some new alloys, red brake calipers, a lower ride height, twin exhausts and five doors, unlike the Fiesta ST, but we can speculate on what’s likely to provide the get up and go.

To take on the Fiesta ST, the i20 N will need something around 200bhp on tap, and that seems likely to come, perhaps with a bit of mild hybrid input, from the 1.6-litre T-GD found in the Kia Ceed GT.

Expect the Hyundai i20 N to arrive by the end of 2020, with prices starting just the right side of £20k.