KLIMS 2018: Hyundai previews the Kona 1.6 Turbo & Electric

KUALA LUMPUR: Hyundai, along with some other vehicles like Santa Fe, Grand Starex facelift, i30 N, and Nexo FCEV has put on display the Kona 1.6 Turbo and the Kona Electric at the KLIMS 2018.

The Kona is not too big in size but looks muscular and modern in every angle. The compact SUV is slotted below the bigger siblings Santa Fe and Tucson and has even played a role of inspiration for the all-new Santa Fe. The front fascia is unique and sports a brand new look thanks to the slimmer LED DRLs and low positioned headlamps. The fog lamps flank the third grille at the bottom just under the iconic cascading grille.

On the sides, the black wheels arches provide the car with crossover looks and the wraparound taillights with reverse lights & turn indicators positioned just above the bumper makes the Kona look like a compact husky SUV. Numerically, the Kona measures 4,165 mm in length and 1,800 mm in width. The wheelbase measures at 2,600 mm.

Mechanically, the Hyundai Kona features a 2.0-litre MPI, a 1.0-litre T-GDI 3-cylinder, and a 1.6-litre Gamma T-GDI motors. On the other hand, the Hyundai Kona Electric comes with an electric motor good for 204 PS of max power and a peak torque of 395 Nm. There are two different battery packs available, a 64 kWh and a 39.2 kWh. The range for the two battery packs is rated at 482 km and 300 km, respectively.

If we talk about charging time for the Kona Electric, the battery can be juiced up to 80% in just 54 minutes if we use the 100 kW DC charger and the conventional 7.2 kW charger will take 9 hours 40 minutes to charge the battery to a full. However, the smaller battery will take 6 hours 10 minutes to charge with the slow charger.

The Hyundai Kona is all set to debut in Malaysia in the second quarter of 2019. The Kona Electric, however, will remain a distant possibility for the Malaysian masses.