Subcompact crossovers aren’t typically known for attractive styling, so we were understandably blown away when Hyundai first announced the new Kona. Not only did it promise to be more practical than the outgoing car, it looked properly sci-fi thanks to its Geordi LaForge visor and host of creases. Today at the New York Auto Show, a lot more details dropped on the U.S.-market 2024 Hyundai Kona and it all seems promising. Let’s take a closer look.
Is the new Hyundai Kona Electric green? I actually reckon that this one’s more yellow. Hyundai chose to unveil the U.S.-spec Kona Electric in a color that makes it look irradiated, and I’m fully here for it. Granted, the sheer shock of this paint scheme does take some attention off of the Kona’s rad new styling, mostly because I can’t stop seeing a tennis ball. Again, it’s not a bad thing, it’s fun and I fully support it.
In contrast, the pale natural tone of the ICE-powered model really lets the down-the-road graphic sing, and I’m even alright with the chunky arches since they’ve been toned down significantly from the outgoing car. This is a sharp little crossover with huge visual appeal.
Hyundai is targeting a very reasonable 260 miles of range from the Kona Electric’s 64.8 kWh battery pack, which is impressive considering the new model is significantly larger than the old one, only gains eight tenths of a kilowatt-hour in battery capacity, yet still pulls out a two-mile lead over its predecessor. Granted, motor output isn’t quite what it used to be. While the current Kona Electric is hellbent on pulverizing its front tires with 290 lb.-ft. of torque, this new model puts out a much more modest 188 lb.-ft. of torque. On the plus side, horsepower is unchanged at 201, so I doubt most drivers will feel a huge difference between old and new once they’ve reached highway speeds. What drivers will notice is the addition of one-pedal driving, which makes city commuting a little more stress-free.
In terms of charging, the Kona Electric uses a 400-volt architecture as opposed to the Ioniq range’s 800-volt architecture, so DC fast charging isn’t as quick as on segment leaders. However, the Kona Electric now features the perk of vehicle-to-load capability. Plug a dongle into the charging socket, and you can power up to 1.7 kW of home devices using your car. Heck, you could probably store that dongle in the newly-included frunk. Admittedly, it measures out to a tiny 0.95 cu.-ft., but it should be alright for charging cables and whatnot.
If electrons aren’t your speed then good news, Hyundai has two more powertrains to choose from. Base models get the carryover and very whelming two-liter naturally-aspirated four-cylinder engine with 147 horsepower and 132 lb.-ft. of torque. It comes paired with a perfectly sufficient CVT and should deliver decent economy. Step up to either the N-Line or Limited trim and excitement jumps considerably with a 190-horsepower 1.6-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine that also puts out a flat 195 lb.-ft. of torque from 1,700 to 4,500 rpm. Unlike in the outgoing Kona, the small-displacement turbo motor gets a proper eight-speed automatic gearbox that sounds like a promising improvement over the old dry-clutch DCT.
Sadly, a rip-snorting anti-social Kona N is nowhere to be found, leaving this pint-sized rocket’s future in limbo. What a shame, that torquey demon of a subcompact crossover deserves to live another life, and the new Kona’s expanded footprint could help a hot version find greater appeal. Plus, the N-Line trim looks pretty slick and more power to back up those looks would be excellent. Also absent is the hybrid option seen overseas that would be a direct competitor to the Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid. Here’s hoping that we see at least one of these options in the future.
No matter what powertrain you choose, all new Konas get a 2.3-inch wheelbase stretch over the old model and an extra inch of width. While this doesn’t sound like much, every inch counts in subcompact crossovers and the added size should bring more room, addressing a spot of contention with the outgoing Kona. To be precise, the new car gets a 1.2-inch bump in rear legroom over the old one, along with incremental bumps in headroom, front legroom, and shoulder room. Again, not huge numbers, but a welcome improvement.
What’s more, the interior looks deeply pragmatic but in a sexy way, with loads of cubbies to stash all your things. There’s even a huge bin in the center console which looks perfect if you carry around a tote bag like I do, or really any sort of bag. For rear seat passengers, those stuck in the middle will be happy to find a fairly flat rear seat cushion for improved thigh support, just like cars used to have. Oh, and the rear seat also reclines for added comfort thanks to a two-position latch system.
While the new Hyundai Kona won’t get everyone’s blood going, its a well-styled subcompact crossover that seems perfect for pockmarked city streets. Pricing hasn’t been announced yet but expect more information closer to when the combustion-powered variants roll into showrooms this summer. The electric model will come along a bit later in the autumn, but it looks like it could very much be worth the wait.
(Photo credits: Hyundai)
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Damn that thing is ugly
As the proud owner of a Kona N (that I bought only a couple weeks ago), I’m pretty sad that they aren’t currently considering a new Kona N. That car is a dang RIOT to drive.
There are dozens of us! DOZENS!
Did they retain the ICE unibody design and shove EV in there, or vice versa?
It was designed as an ev first, then made due for ice powertrain
Interesting. I’m not in love with the front, but I like this a lot better than the Ioniq 6. Surprised to see so much hate in the comments.
I like the out-going model better, I’m considering one (as well as the Cx-30) for my next purchase. Which is wild cause I don’t like CUV’s but I’m looking at them now as lifted hatchbacks. And living in NYC the roads suck and my poor veloster groans over every pothole lol… so yeah looking to a small subcompact cuv now.
Sorry, this thing is fugly, sides look like every SUV on the planet, with the modernish but not well integrated front grafted on. Looks like it tried to be a Rivian but somebody got carried away with adding styling elements and details I stead of going with a clean look.
The early Konas were some of the best styled little SUVs out there, got the proportions just right and actually looked sporty. Then they got angry eyes, and now evolved to fugly.
To paraphrase Foghorn Leghorn, “that thing is about as sharp as a bowling ball.”
That said, it seems to fill a very large niche of not too large, or costly, or expensive transportation for normal people. Normal is a good thing.
Also, they didn’t make a freak of a modern, hip-happening now-a-go-go dashboard, so that is refreshing.
I was all about this car, that electric yellow (green) fucking did it for me. Then I saw that back seat and almost threw up. Can’t fit a bag of groceries on the ground holy cow. Can’t work with that if you have kids.
It’s better than the outgoing. I need to sprain my ankle to sit behind myself (which, as a Hyundai dealer photographer, I have to do fairly often). I’ll take the extra inch and change with glee.
Look at the full side-view of the yellow car. Draw a horizontal line level with the “fender” crease above the rear wheel. The design of the car above the line is very contemporary, while the portion below looks like a 2009 Ssangyong.
Wow, they really said “no touch buttons, just good old physical, pressy buttons.”
Hyundai/Kia is going to need to do something about the IRA, or they’re going to get left in the dust
I think the EV9 is going to be built in the US.. that is a year and a bit away.
It’s ok…
Colour in press photos is nice. Will anything on the lot look like that?
I can’t wait for the dumb wheel arch crease trend to go away.
Interior/dashboad and control layout is much better than some of the other gimmicky crap being offered,
Size is right.
This has too much for me. Too many angles or something. Not my jam.
Yeah, the exterior style is a miss for me too. It looks like there are double sets of fenders both front and rear, with the part where the lights are integrated looking like abnormal growths.
I’m not a crossover fan, but I do like how they’re steadily getting less trucky and more hatchback-y in profile. Squint a little and this looks like a mashup of a Ford Focus and Chrysler PT Cruiser.
Maybe they’ll continue to flatten, and we’ll eventually get more car-height stuff again.
Sedans were starting to offer a higher seating position just before the carpocalypse (my Focus has this), so it’s not impossible that consumers would eventually be happy with basically a hatchback.
If you just think of cars like the Kona as hatchbacks with silly marketing behind them they make a lot more sense
That’s a good way to put it, even generally too.
Like how I find I’ve been conditioned by marketing to see the Ford Escape as an SUV so I’ve been cool to it, even as it’s gotten steadily more car-like. But I’m kinda warm to the UK market Ford Puma, which isn’t objectively that different from the Escape.
The Puma is cool and comes in an ST version with a stick! I wish we got it over here
I’d love to get it here, even if they called it the Warthog.
It’s not just marketing- the 1st and 2nd gen Escapes were very truck-like, and those things were (and continue to be, depending on your area) absolutely everywhere.
It was also derived from the midsize Mazda 626 platform vs its Civic and Corolla-based rivals.
Looking at the current Escape, it’s pretty easy to see it’s just a Focus wagon with AWD and bigger tires. The cycle is complete.
People mourn the death of wagons and hatchbacks, but realistically they’ve never been more popular! As long as you can accept that buyers prefer their wagons with AWD and easier access.
Please get the apostrophe out of that headline before my head explodes.
Grammar pedants unite!
Pedant’s untie!
We’re all going rouge!
Will the EV version be sold in all states this time?
This thing is ugly as hell but the headlights down on the side is something that should be mandated on all this tall ass vehicles.
An excellent point – it’s getting so when I’m blinded by headlight glare, I can’t tell if people are driving around with their highbeams on or just have an SUV with a hood line right in my visual path.
I think it’s mostly that modern cars have obscenely bright low beams below the cutoff line, and if you’re not driving on a perfectly flat road then the cutoff is often above eye level and you get the full force right in the face. It’s infuriating because low beams by nature have limited distance so there’s no need for them to be that bright, but because of the weird way humans perceive brightness it makes people think their headlights are better if there’s a blinding bright spot right in front of the car.
The old lighting site (appropriately) brought in a lighting expert to do an article a few years back that talked about how most aftermarket headlights are terrible, but they use tricks to make you think they’re brighter than they are. You would not believe how many people in the comments had arguments that basically boiled down to “it looks brighter so it must be brighter” even though he had explained in the article why that isn’t true.
I feel like that’s why we’re seeing a lot more vehicles get designed with the headlights down low especially as LED headlights are standard on more and more vehicles.
I’m not really digging the design, although the versions in full body color look more or less acceptable. The black body cladding looks awful.
This is the first outright miss I’ve seen from Hyundai/Genesis/Kia styling in a bit.
Regarding the larger size of the new model – was the outgoing version really too small, even for its segment, or is this just another example of bloat?
The current one is a bit smaller in exterior dimensions than most competitors, the new one is closer to those like the CX-30 and Corolla Cross, although the HR-V is much larger than most.
Within the Hyundai lineup however, the current one is a little close in size to the smaller Venue, though the Venue doesn’t offer AWD. The Tucson also grew in size for our market with the current gen, so that gave a bit more room to upsize.
That’s a bit more specific to our market as not all markets offer the Venue, and they get a smaller version of the Tucson, although still a good chunk of size between the new Kona and the shorter Tucson.
Might wanna check that apostrophe in the title. Let’s = let us.
This thing is uglier than a 2014 Cherokee. But really, what’s up with those headlight?
But does “The Club” come standard?
Sharp? This is one of the ugliest things ever made. Why does it have Tundra Stepside taillights and light bars?
No hybrid? No plug-in? You’d think they’d keep parity with the Kia Niro.
Especially with the Corolla Cross hybrid around the corner in the same segment. I could understand it being concerns over pricing too close to the Tucson hybrid, but that starts higher than its Sportage hybrid sibling and a Niro hybrid isn’t even $1k less than that.
The interior is an absolutely massive improvement. My Kona N’s interior is a drab plastic palace. It’s easily the worst part about the car and the lower trims are even worse. It’s a sea of black with very little variation in materials. Granted they spice the N up with some blue stitching in a few places, really nice seats, some N doo dads strewn throughout, and a decent sound system, but still. It really do be cheap.
I also like the exterior styling. I think it’s neat and unique but not overstated. The EV version is a bit meh though? 400 volt architecture is pretty disappointing in this day and age and since they’ve now optimized the platform to be an EV first and an ICE second you’d think they could do a bit better. Maybe that’s coming down the line.
Sadly I think my dearly beloved oddball the N is gone for good. It hasn’t been a sales success and I think it was more or less thrown together as a placeholder for the now deceased Veloster N while they finished up the Ioniq 5 N…which would more or less offer the same stuff a new electric Kona N would and is something they can charge way more for…and I don’t think they’ll consider another ICE one.
Pour one out for the angry little alien. I’m going to keep taking good care of mine for the next several years…because they’re already getting modded and hooned into oblivion all over the internet so I’d imagine a nice, bone stock example that’s had all its maintenance and has only been driven 8000 miles a year might prove to be appealing to someone on Cars and Bids or BAT in 5-10 years.
Not gonna lie I love hearing about that Kona N of yours! Do they let you autocross it or is the CoG too high?
You can autocross them! I haven’t taken mine but lots of people do it. I actually have a couple track days I’ll be getting on the calendar soon, I’ll be sure to tell you all how it does. It should be pretty fun, at C&D’s Lightning Lap event this year the Kona N was significantly faster around VIR than the GTI, WRX, and Elantra N. It was actually the fastest thing in its class all time other than a pair of ILE 4 popper Camaros.
When it was first revealed I was kinda a fan and thought maybe it was a crossover I’d be willing to own.
But the more I look… No, I couldn’t do it. Even with the bright yellow I can’t do it. Might look relatively okay for this type of vehicle but I wouldn’t be happy to see it in my parking spot.
Oh god I’m one of those “all new cars suck” people now!