There’s a lot of excitement surrounding Hyundai’s new B-segment crossover, the Kona. After years of being left behind in a market now dominated by the likes of the Honda HR-V, Mazda CX-3, and even the Subaru XV, Hyundai is giving urbanites with a strong sense of individuality a new choice.

The Kona joins the Creta, Tucson, and Santa Fe in Hyundai’s growing line-up of crossovers. It features a bold and daring design, a hint of Hyundai’s new design language. Front and center is the new Cascading Grille with a sporty mesh pattern. Hyundai is quick to add though that unlike their past design themes, each model will have elements unique to it. In the case of the Kona, it’s the protective “armor” seen all around. In addition, the stacked appearance of the LED headlights and daytime running lights impart a styling vibe first seen in the Nissan Juke.

The simple interior contrasts greatly with the bold exterior. The horizontal layout creases a wide and spacious feel. It offers generous interior space for its size thanks to the optimization of its drivetrain the suspension, all-wheel drive system, and even exhaust system all designed to reduce interior intrusion. It also enables the Kona to gain a lower floor height and an elevated seating position, characteristics both desired by typical crossover buyers.



The Kona promises to blend fuel efficiency with a fun urban driving experience thanks to its range of small displacement engines available in both gasoline and diesel.

A 2.0-liter MPI Atkinson cycle engine is the base engine in the North American market. In this guise, it produces 149 horsepower and 179 Nm of torque, good for a 0-100 km/h time of around 10 seconds and a top speed of 194 km/h. This is mated to a conventional 6-speed automatic.

Moving up, a Gamma 1.6-liter Turbo Direct Injection (T-GDI) boosts the output to 177 horsepower and 265 Nm which drops the 0-100 km/h to just 7.7 seconds and ups the top speed to 210 km/h. This engine is mated to the responsive 7-speed dual clutch automatic (7DCT).



On the other end of the scale, European customers can also opt for Hyundai’s 1.0-liter 3-cylinder T-GDI engine mated to a 6-speed manual. This powerplant produces 120 horsepower and 172 Nm of torque enough for a 0-100 km/h time of 12 seconds and a 181 km/h top speed.

Chassis are dependent on the drivetrain with the 2WD variants getting a front MacPherson Strut and a high-stiffness Torsion Beam axle at the back while 4WD variants getting a rear dual-arm Multi-Link setup.

The Hyundai Kona is now sold in Korea with North America and Europe to follow.


Sadly though, the Kona is looking to be yet another forbidden fruit to would be crossover buyers in the Philippines.

When asked if there’s a chance whether the Kona will arrive in the Philippines, Hyundai Asia Resources, Inc. (HARI) said that currently, the company “is not discussing the Kona.”

That’s certainly a downer, but from a business perspective, this move makes a whole lot of sense for Hyundai Philippines. With the Kona’s equipment level as it is, it won’t come cheap. And with the top-of-the-line Creta already at P 1,038,000 and the base Tucson at P 1,113,000, there’s not much wiggle room to add the Kona in there. That is, unless Hyundai decides to kill off the base Tucson or the top-of-the-line Creta.