It has been a long time since we heard about the arrival of the Hyundai Kona in Malaysia. In Dec 2019, when COMOS (Cohesive Mobility Solution) announced its plan to introduce a new leasing programme that included Kona Electric, the car's local debut was confirmed sooner or later. Post that, we saw several snapshots of the vehicle where it was seen cruising around Ara Damansara, i.e., Hyundai Sime Darby Motors' location. And now we got to hear about the car straight from the horse's mouth. Earlier today, Hyundai Malaysia posted an image of a car's interior on its official Facebook handle with the caption "A glance of the 'upcoming' interior. You Drive it. You Define it," along with the hashtag #HyundaiMY. So, get ready guys, Hyundai's latest offering can be in a few months or even less, who knows.

Though the recently posted interior image doesn't reveal the car it belongs to, the orange-coloured trim outlining the air-con vents, gearbox, and push start/stop button, quickly gives away the car's identity. We'd also like to tell you that HSDM previewed the Kona at the 2018 Kuala Lumpur International Show, and it was initially scheduled for a Q2 2019 launch. However, due to some unknown reasons, its arrival was delayed, and then the pandemic slowed the deal further. The sky now appears clear, and the Kona is about to knock Malaysia's auto industry door.

Now that we are sure about Hyundai Kona's soon arrival, let us discuss what it'll bring to us and our market.

Competition

The Hyundai Kona is a sub-compact SUV that will lure buyers away from cars like Toyota CH-R, Honda HR-V, and Mazda CX-3. In the Hyundai Malaysia lineup, it is expected to sit below the Tucson.

Dimensions	Hyundai Kona
Length	4,165 mm
Width	1,800 mm
Height	1,565 mm
Wheelbase	2,600 mm

On the styling front, the Kona appears to be a millennials car. It looks modern with its ultra-sleek twin headlight setup, which depending on the version, will get halogen bulbs or LED units. The slit-like LED daytime running lights sit above the headlamps and give Kona its unique visual identity. The cascading grille with distinctive mesh is common between all the latest Hyundai cars. The fog lamps get a big casing and sit above air intake. The side profile displays a massive fender that houses intricately designed alloy wheels, roof rails, and accent lines, giving the car a sporty appearance. The rear showcases wrap-around sleek tail lights, rear spoiler with LED brake light, and LED taillights.

Overall, the Kona is a beauty and features a head-turning exterior profile.

Cabin comfort & features

With a wheelbase of 2600 mm, the Kona appears to be a spacious car, also is has a load area of 361-litre that expands to 1,143-litre with the rear seat folded down. With a low loading height of 695 mm and a large rear opening of 1,002 mm, the car was designed to offer immense peace of mind. Coming to the car's convenience features, the teaser images show around 7-inch infotainment that we expect to come turned with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. It also serves as a display for rear view camera. A head-up display is expected to feature in range-topping models, and it will feature essential driving information like directions and speed.

We also expect the Kona to come with comforting features like heated and ventilated seats, electronically-controlled powered seat (driver and front passenger), wireless charging pad located in the centre console, 4.2-inch LCD digital information cluster that will show important info like the status of active safety features, navigation, remaining range, and more. Further, the presence of an electric parking brake with auto hold function might also make it to the Kona specs news.

Engine & performance

The Kona is available in several engine options around the globe, some of which are 2.0-litre MPI, 1.6-litre Gamma T-GDI, and 1.0-litre T-GDI three-cylinder powerplant. In Malaysia, we expect the Kona to come with the 1.6-litre Gamma T-GDI mill that makes 177 PS and 265 Nm of torque. It is coupled with a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox and the same mill featured at 2018 KLIMS. On the performance side, with the 1.6-litre mill, the Kona can cover 0 to 100 kmph in 7.9 seconds and has a top speed of 205 kmph.

There's also an electric version of the crossover available, and we hope it makes it to the Malaysian market. The Kona Electric is offered in two versions on the markets around the globe. One comes with a 39.2 kWh battery that makes 136 PS and 395 Nm and has a 312 km range. Another is a 64 kWh version producing 204 PS and 395 Nm with a claimed range of 482 km.

Safety

The Kona benefits from superior rigidity as it features advanced high-strength steel along with high impact energy absorption. The local-spec Kona is expected to come with a Hyundai SmartSense safety kit that includes - autonomous emergency braking, lane keeping assist, blind-spot collision-avoidance warning, rear cross traffic collision-avoidance warning, smart cruise control, and driver attention warning.

That's all about the upcoming Hyundai Kona. Though currently, we can only speculate what the car will bring to the table, we are pretty sure it'll not fail to amaze us.

Also Read: 2020 Hyundai Kona bookings open in Malaysia; launch in Q4