This is the new Hyundai Kona!

Highlights

• New Hyundai Kona in 2023 in the Netherlands
• Also as an electric Kona Electric …
• … and as a hybrid
• Grown up
• Eccentric design

In 2017, Hyundai added a completely new model to its delivery range with the Kona. It was placed below the Tucson and, just like the Hyundai Ioniq, which was still available at the time, came on the market with a series of interesting powertrains. For example, the Hyundai Kona even got a fully electric version in 2018 and it naturally went over the counter like a hot sandwich in the Netherlands. After almost six years it is time for a completely new Hyundai Kona. This is him!

That there would be a new Hyundai Kona is no surprise. Hyundai is not only doing good business in the Netherlands with its crossover. In addition, a new generation of technical brother Kia Niro was presented at the beginning of this year, so it was a matter of counting down before Hyundai would come up with a new Kona. The Niro is available as a hybrid, as a plug-in hybrid and with an electric powertrain. The new Hyundai Kona also comes as a hybrid and, as mentioned, as an electric Kona Electric. Whether the Kona will also be a plug-in hybrid this time? According to the importer, nothing is known about this at the moment.

Design

Hyundai does not share technical specifications yet, it is still too early for that. We do get to see what the new Kona looks like both inside and out. Those who are familiar with Hyundai’s recent products will see recognizable design. Just like its predecessor – who more or less seems to have invented it – it has lighting divided over two layers, but the whole thing looks different than you are used to. In the top layer we see a strip running across the entire width of the otherwise fairly dense front in which the LED daytime running lights are housed. On the outgoing Kona, the LED daytime running units were not connected to each other. So evolution. One floor below and quite far on the corners of the new Hyundai Kona’s muzzle are the actual headlights, this time housed in a black plastic island. Broadly speaking, its front is somewhat reminiscent of that of the Seven, a preview of a large electric SUV that will be attached to the Ioniq family and will probably be called Ioniq 7.

Like the Hyundai Seven Concept and Ioniq 5 and 6, the Kona has pixel lighting.

The ‘pixel’ LED lighting that you know from the Ioniq 5, 6 and the aforementioned Seven Concept also seeps through to the Kona. A thin pixelated LED strip runs across the entire width of the tailgate, which flows into more evenly filled copies on the rear screens. Like its predecessor, the new Hyundai Kona has multi-layered rear lighting. Other notable things: a strikingly small third brake light is located centrally above the rear window and the model name Kona is written in large letters under the prominent Hyundai logo on the tailgate.

Each flavor of the Hyundai Kona gets its own style.

At least as interesting are the flanks of the second-generation Kona. Since the facelift carried out on the Kona in 2020, the Kona Electric no longer has black plastic wheel arch edges and Hyundai continues that line with the new Kona. The versions that do get black plastic trim parts at the wheel arches, get much larger copies than before. They are more angular and even dive a bit into the front bumper. The electric new Kona also has a front that differs in details from those of the other Konas, although you should find the differences mainly in the infill of the bumper. Hyundai also presses sharp creases in the sheet metal of the Kona and introduces another sporty N-Line. It also has – just like the Electric – its own bumper party.

New Hyundai Kona is size bigger

No doubt you already saw it when you saw these photos: the new Hyundai Kona is a size larger than the current model. Although, buddy … With a car length of 4.36 meters, the new Kona is no less than 15 centimeters longer than its predecessor. In width, it grows by 2.5 centimeters, and the wheelbase increases by 6 centimeters. Good news for the interior space.

The new Kona is no less than 15 centimeters longer than the current one. More interior space!

Why the Kona has grown? That undoubtedly has to do with the Bayon that came in 2021. It is almost as big as the Kona under which it is positioned. Technical brother Kia Niro with its 4.42 meters in length and wheelbase of 2.72 meters is larger than the Hyundai Kona, but that is not really news. The previous Niro was also a bit bigger than the Kona.

Technic

Hyundai is not yet releasing technical specifications of the new Kona. The Koreans do at least confirm the arrival of a hybrid variant and the new electric Kona Electric. Interesting: Hyundai says that the Kona was basically developed as a Kona Electric and that the other models are more or less technical derivatives. The current Kona is available with a 1.0 T-GDI petrol engine, and is also available as a regular hybrid and as an Electric.

The powertrain of the Kia Niro EV probably already gives away what you can expect from the new Hyundai Kona Electric on a technical level. The Niro EV has a 64.8 kWh battery pack and a 204 hp and 255 Nm strong electric motor. The current Kona Electric also has an electric motor of 204 hp. The hybrid Niro Hybrid has a system power of 141 hp and 265 Nm.

Completely modern: the instruments and the infotainment screen form one whole.

Interior

The crossover proves with its interior that the new Hyundai Kona is a child of its time. A traditional covered instrument panel and an infotainment screen placed loosely above the center console are a thing of the past. In the new Kona, the digital instrumentation and the infotainment screen form one whole. In the center console we see a series of physical push buttons and an island with push buttons and toggle switches to control the climate control. Whether the Kona’s with internal combustion engines will again get a center tunnel that looks different from that of the Kona Electric remains to be seen. Also striking is the extra lever on the steering column, a control device with which you probably choose the direction of travel of the car.

A bull’s eye in the Netherlands: the Kona Electric.

Hyundai Kona in the Netherlands

Since the Dutch market introduction of the current Kona at the end of 2017, 26,244 copies have been sold in our country. In 2020, the Hyundai Kona experienced its absolute top year. Then Hyundai sold no less than 10,825 copies. Probably a huge chunk of this was an all-electric Kona Electric. In 2021, 2,785 copies left the Dutch dealers and in the first 11 months of this year there were almost the same number of 2,753 units.

This year, the Kona has to overtake both the Tucson (3,517 units) and the i10 (3,787 units) in sales statistics. That was also the case in 2021. In 2020, the Kona was by far the best-selling Hyundai. In fact, the Kona was the most popular car in the Netherlands in 2020 after the Volkswagen ID3 and Kia Niro.