Hyundai’s compact SUV Kona arriving this year

HYUNDAI will finally enter the hotly-contested small SUV segment this year with the release of its Kona crossover, set to arrive in the third quarter to steal sales away from the Mazda CX-3, Mitsubishi ASX and Honda HR-V.

While the South Korean car-maker is keeping details close to its chest for now, it has revealed a darkened, close-up image of what appears to be one of the Kona’s sleek headlights.

The svelte new design is unlike anything in Hyundai’s current vehicle line-up, with light emitted from five segmented glass-like sections and flanked by what is likely an integrated side indicator.

The image also gives hints that the Kona will sport a sculpted front bonnet, chunky foglight surrounds and a new-look front-grille with a two-tier design.

Named Kona after the Hawaiian region, Hyundai says that “the island’s energetic image is reflected in the innovative, practical and highly functional design of Hyundai’s new lifestyle-focused SUV”.

Hyundai Australia general manager of external affairs Bill Thomas confirmed to GoAuto that the Kona will have a “third quarter launch here” and that the new SUV will share some of the underpinnings with the latest Elantra and upcoming i30 small car.

“It is related, so AD Elantra and PD i30 do have very similar platforms, and we understand that Kona will share a lot of common componentry from that platform,” he said.

“However, the way that the company works is that it will take what it thinks is ideal componentry for that particular application and either introduce that or perhaps modify things to suit.

“I guess the key thing is, you can expect the car to share that kind of dimension.” This would make the Kona larger than the current segment leader, the Mazda2-based CX-3 which measures 4275mm in length, 1765mm wide and has a 2570mm wheelbase, and will likely put its sizing on par with the Honda HR-V, Nissan Qashqai, Mitsubishi ASX and the recently launched Toyota C-HR.

Engine options could also mirror the forthcoming i30, with a new 150kW/265Nm 1.6-litre turbo-petrol four-pot, 120kW/203Nm 2.0-litre atmo four-cylinder and a 100kW turbo-diesel with 280Nm in the manual and 300Nm in the automatic versions of the small car.

Although a date for the full reveal is yet to be confirmed, Hyundai will likely unveil the Kona mid-year for its third quarter release, and Mr Thomas said the reveal will be for the production version as “we won’t be seeing a concept before then”.