Hyundai i30 N hot hatch orders paused in Australia, is this the end of the road?

Australian orders for the 2023 Hyundai i30 N hot hatch have been paused amid high demand and wait times of more than a year – and it is unclear whether it will return before the rest of the i30 hatch range reaches the end of the road.

Hyundai dealers in Australia have been advised to stop taking orders for the i30 N hatchback from today (February 1) until further notice as the South Korean car maker works through a “large number of backorders”.

While Hyundai says on its website the order pause is temporary, the current Hyundai i30 N hatch – and the broader Hyundai i30 hatchback range – is nearing the end of its life, with no next generation expected, as the small car makes way for more SUVs.

As previously reported by Drive, the i30 N hatch is due to be phased out amid declining sales of hatchbacks in Europe – the main region where the i30 hatch is sold – and stricter upcoming emissions regulations there.

Hyundai is yet to confirm the demise of the i30 hatchback on the record – or indicate when it will be axed – however based on historical Hyundai model cycles, it is due to depart showrooms within the next two years.

Wait times for Hyundai i30 N buyers at the end of the queue are estimated to be in excess of 12 months – for delivery in early 2024 – a similar time to when the i30 hatchback range could end production.

The pause on the i30 N hatch orders follows a similar move for the smaller Hyundai i20 N hot hatch in August 2022, after wait times stretched up to two years.

The Hyundai i30 N and Hyundai i20 N hatchbacks are built in the Czech Republic and Turkey respectively – while the i30 Sedan N and Kona N, which remain available to order and were recently boosted by an influx of stock, are produced in South Korea.

There is no known pause on orders for the regular versions of the Hyundai i30 hatchback – built in South Korea – which dealers have told Drive are in stock.

The standard Hyundai i30 hatchback outsells the sedan by more than four to one – but due in part to the long wait times and constraints on stock for the hatch, the i30 Sedan N was the better seller among performance versions last year.