Hyundai Sonata N Line is coming with 'at least 275 horsepower'

The 2020 Hyundai Sonata just made its North American debut at the New York Auto Show, but what it teased out right at the end of the announcement was confirmation of a Sonata N Line with more performance chops on the way. We chatted with Hyundai's Jim Trainor to see what more we could learn about the car, and he says to expect "at least 275 horsepower, and probably a lot more" from the sedan.

This amount of power is considerably more than the 2.5-liter four-cylinder base engine that makes 191 horsepower and 181 pound-feet of torque now for 2020. A turbocharged 1.6-liter four-cylinder is also on the table in the higher trims of Sonata. Hyundai wouldn't say what engine it will use for the N Line, but we think we're safe to assume it's a version of the 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder mill. The unnamed engine offered in the N Line won't be offered in any other version of the Sonata either, so you'll have to get this version of the car to get peak performance. We tried to get more details concerning other performance improvements to the car, but were just told to expect "more" than what a normal Sonata offers. So maybe we'll get some suspension and brake upgrades to go with the power. Hyundai is switching it up a bit with N Line as of late, offering real performance improvements to the recently announced Elantra GT N Line, too. Previous N Line offerings were more about aesthetics changes, as opposed to pure N cars. Sonata N Line will be getting aesthetics changes, too.

The "275 horsepower" figure is exactly the amount that the Veloster N with the optional performance package makes, but Hyundai appears to be turning it up a bit. It's also more but not terribly more than the 2.0-liter turbocharged unit in the previous Sonata, which made 260 horsepower and 245 pound-feet of torque. That car feels plenty sprightly, but giving even more power to those front wheels might make it into a torque-steer monster. There's no mention of all-wheel drive being on the table for the Sonata, but that would make the power much more manageable.

Going the other way, Hyundai also said that a hybrid is on its way, but didn't tease out any information beyond confirming the car's existence. We asked about timing for the Sonata N Line and were told to expect it to be on sale sometime in 2020.