Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea’s largest carmaker, will unveil a concept sports car of its N-brand high-performance line developed in cooperation with German chemical giant BASF at the upcoming Paris Motor Show in October.

The new concept sports car is a compact sports car sized between its flagship Sonata and Avante (sold as Elantra in overseas markets) sedans and features a sleek body, according to auto industry sources on Wednesday.

Cutting-edge materials for this high-performance vehicle were jointly developed with BASF. The German chemical company focused on developing materials to ensure the aerodynamic design for the new concept car, increase the engine power and make the body lighter.

The two companies joined forces to develop a concept car six years ago, which was unveiled in Geneva Motor Show 2010. Hyundai Motor released the i-flow, a Sonata-class concept car, where BASF applied liquid metal coating technology that maximizes the contrast depending on light intensity and viewing angle. The two injected up to 5 million euros together to develop new engineering plastic for materials for the car interior and exterior.

BASF generates 14 percent of about 73 billion euro revenue it raked in 2015 from automotive business. It is the largest manufacturer in automotive coatings and polyurethane car parts and supplies materials and components for high-performance cars such as the AMG of Mercedes Benz and the M Series of BMW. BASF is also unrivaled in color-specific car coating. The company’s color trend updated each year affects car market trends of the year.

Hyundai Motor announced last year that it would begin selling its high-performance N-brand line in 2017 as part of its efforts to upgrade its image for a maker of value for money cars, and it hired Albert Biermann, who was vice president of engineering at BMW’s M performance car division, to lead the development of its high-performance N-brand line in April last year.

By Chun Beom-joo

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