More LEDs with every model change
For many, Christmas is also the festival of lights, warmth and coziness. When it comes to cars, we immediately think of the warm glow of the traditional halogen headlight, which is slowly but surely disappearing from the range. Only from South Korea is the world still illuminated with this halogen light on a fairly large scale.
The halogen headlight has been the only option when it comes to car headlights for many decades since its invention in the 1960s. No wonder: such a lamp provides more light than a traditional light bulb. With the advent of H1, H4 and H7 standards, the lamps are easy to replace and there was simply no good alternative for a long time. That changed with the arrival of xenon, whose career we could already conclude is almost over. Only one car is still available with it*: the Porsche 718. Xenon has been almost completely replaced by the LED lamp, which is superior in every respect, and eventually this will also happen with halogen.
Eventually yes, but not yet. Just pay attention when you drive home for Christmas on the highway with Chris Rea playing on the speakers: a large number of oncoming cars still emit the familiar, warm light that is so characteristic of the halogen lamp. Some of those cars are a bit older, but the halogen headlight has not yet disappeared from the new range. This applies without exception to relatively simple basic versions. The Citroën C4, for example, is still available with it, as are the Toyotas Aygo and Yaris and – yes – the Audi A1.
The largest and most expensive car you can currently buy with halogen headlights is (until the facelifted version appears) the Ford Kuga. Halogen headlights on EVs are rare, which is not surprising given the high energy consumption of this type of headlight. They do have the ultimate budget EV Dacia Spring. Fiat is also one of the exceptions and also has one of the latest models with halogen, the fully electric Fiat 500e. It is less surprising that the ‘old’ 500 Hybrid and the Panda still have halogen lamps. There are also plenty of affordable cars that are equipped with LED lighting as standard. This even applies to the cheapest car you can buy new, the Dacia Sandero.
Christmas lights
If we can discern one trend in the halogen field, it is that the halogen lamp is mainly found in the range of a single car company. That group is the Hyundai Motor Group, which includes Kia in addition to Hyundai. Both brands still have various models, the simpler versions of which are equipped with halogen headlights. This applies, for example, to the small Kia Picanto, even if the facelift version comes soon. Other Kias with halogen lamps are the Stonic, the Ceed and also the Niro, which is still very fresh with a birth year of 2022. Even the electric Kia Niro EV has halogen viewers as standard, making it the largest and most expensive EV for which this applies.
A halogen headlight on the latest Kia Niro. The daytime running lights are LED, but low beam and high beam are not.
At Hyundai, the i10, the i20, the i30 and the Bayon have halogen headlights as standard. At the time of writing, this also applies to the Hyundai Tucson. This SUV is comparable in size to the aforementioned Ford Kuga, but with the already announced facelift, the halogen headlights seem to be disappearing here too. This is almost standard nowadays, so the halogen headlight will quickly disappear from the range in the coming years. Is that bad? As far as we’re concerned, not, as long as those cozy Christmas lights continue to radiate that nostalgic, warm light.
*An attentive reader pointed out to us in a comment below the xenon article that Stellantis’ medium-sized vans also have xenon. This reader was right, but now we have reality on our side again: these buyers have been facelifted and exchanged xenon for LED, making the Porsche the only car that you can buy new with xenon lighting.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl