The Hyundai Kona has been an interesting little SUV ever since its inception. But Hyundai’s design team just keeps coming up with better and better cars, and the next-generation Kona proves that there’s still plenty of great stuff coming down the pipeline.
Hyundai this week unveiled the design of the next-generation Kona. When it eventually goes on sale, it’ll be available in four different varieties — there’ll be a traditional gas model, as well as a hybrid, in addition to an all-electric variant and a sportier N-Line trim.
Each is promised to have its own distinct style, but the overall changes to the Kona are already very, very good. The headlights remain tucked away lower in the front bumper, but a new thin LED strip runs the width of the front end, and the EV variant gets some Ioniq-style pixelation to help separate it from the rest. Beefy fenders lend some SUV street cred, while the rear end maintains the same full-width LED strip — again, with a pixel-style design on the electric variant. Sharp angles are everywhere, and none of ’em look bad.
The Kona’s interior gets some thoughtful rejiggering, too. The shifter is moved to the steering column, freeing up space in the center console for different physical controls and large storage cubbies. There are still physical buttons for the climate control, drive modes and infotainment system. On the model Hyundai showed, a pair of 12.3-inch displays meld together in a single frame to give the appearance of one seriously large screen. In the second row, there’s something Hyundai calls a “Curve-less Bench Seat,” although it just looks like a seat to me. The picture Hyundai gave us shows a totally flat floor, but it’s unclear if that’ll extend to all models, or just the electric one.
In the process of its redesign, Hyundai also gave the Kona some larger dimensions. Overall length is now 171.5 inches, up nearly 6 inches over the previous generation. The body is also about 1 inch wider, and the wheelbase extends some 2.4 inches, which should greatly benefit interior volume. We’ll learn more about the next-gen Hyundai Kona over the coming months, ahead of a full and proper debut.
