Would You Ditch Your Toyota Rav4 For The New Hyundai Kona? (Photos)

The Hyundai Kona has been introduced to sit below the Santa Fe and Tucson. It comes with a fresh design and new-to-hyundai technology.

“With its true SUV genes, a progressive design and premium features, Kona reflects the lifestyle of modern customers, enhancing the brand’s appeal and attracting new customers” said Thomas Schmid, Hyundai Europe’s chief operating officer.

The Kona will go on sale in Korea next month, followed by North America and Europe. It is coming with front and all-wheel-drive.

The name “Kona” was taken from a Hawaiian coastal region as Hyundai likes to name its SUVs after travel destination just like Tucson and Santa Fe.

The two petrol engines available at launch will be a 1.0LT-GDI with a six-speed manual transmission and a 1.6L T-GDI with a seven-speed dual clutch transmission and all-wheel drive.

The 1.0L unit will produce 118bhp, with a 0-62mph time of 12.0sec and a top speed of 112mph. The more powerful 1.6-litre petrol unit has 174bhp with 0-63mph in 7.9sec and top speed of 127mph.

The Kona will get 2 drive modes: Normal and Sport and some with 2.0-litre MPI Atkinson engine would also be available.

Sangyup Lee, Hyundai’s head of styling, said: “We wanted to create a character that was strong. As a design, creating an icon is a tough challenge. The overall first impression is about dynamic character.”

See Related Post: Hyundai’s Luxury Brand Releases Its Concept SUV – Genesis GV80

The interior looks premium and comes with a 5.0-inch TFT screen as standard, with an optional 8.0-inch colour touchscreen available. In a first for Hyundai, the Kona is available with a Display Audio system that features connected services, including smartphone syncing using Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. A wireless smartphone charging pad is available as an option.

It also gets an eight speaker sound system from Krell. Other features are head-up display autonomous emergency braking, lane keeping assist, rear-cross traffic alert and blind spot detection.

The £15,000 price tag should be in the range of N12m in Nigeria after shipping and clearing.