Kono after the crown: introducing Hyundai Kono
Kona is actually a small town on the largest Hawaiian island, well developed in terms of tourism. With the Kona, Hyundai promises to complement the business class launched by the Nissan Juke. In terms of form, the South Koreans certainly followed Jook's example, although they did not go in such a "rejected" direction. The new front-end design with daytime running lights and hood edge turn signals is definitely a completely new interpretation for Hyundai. The aggressive look of the mask is softened by the rest of the body, so that from Kona's back she looks very nice and no longer offensive. In terms of dimensions, the exterior of the car practically does not differ from competitors in the class.
The design approach to the interior is not surprising. Quite calm design, which is dominated by dark plastic, the owner will be able to add inserts of his own color combination. In terms of roominess, it is definitely better than that of the Juk, especially in the back seat.
The Kona will soon go on sale in the domestic, that is, the South Korean market, in Europe we expect it shortly after the official fair premiere at the Frankfurt Motor Show. Since there is still a lot of time left before the start of sales, prices have not yet been announced. It is already known that two sets of engines will be available at the beginning of the sale: with a smaller three-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine and a liter displacement (120 "horsepower"), it will be available with a six-speed manual transmission and front-mounted. All-wheel drive, a more powerful 177 horsepower petrol turbo engine will be mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission with all-wheel drive. Turbodiesels? Hyundai promises them next year. Then, as most car brands now expect, it will become clearer what the capabilities of smaller turbodiesel engines will be, given the development of new standards for the amount of carbon monoxide and various other permitted gases and particulate matter in Europe. Hyundai announces two versions of the new 1,6-liter turbodiesel - 115 and 136 horsepower. A little later, but probably next year, Kona will also get an electric drive (similar to what we know from Ioniq).
Maybe someone else is interested in the "mechanical" part of the Kone? The front axle is “classic”, with spring struts (McPherson), the rear axle is a regular semi-rigid axle (for front-wheel drive versions), otherwise it is multi-directional. Despite its more urban look, the Kono can also be used to drive over larger curbs or less difficult terrain – the underbody of the car is 170 millimeters off the ground. The car's weight (in the all-wheel-drive version) seems a bit off-class, although Hyundai says they'll be using strong, lightweight sheet metal from their own Korean factory to build the bodywork.
Hyundai has announced that it will fit all Kones as standard with an automatic braking system (AEB) that can detect normal obstacles (cars) and pedestrians in front of the car using a camera and a radar sensor, and also works in three phases. The basis is a warning to the driver (visible and audible) with preliminary preparation of the brake, depending on the anticipated possibility of a collision; however, if the system determines that a collision is imminent, it automatically brakes. It will operate at any speed above eight kilometers per hour. The rest of the safety devices will be available to customers at an additional cost, from lane departure warning, auto-dimming headlights, driver focus warning, blind spot detection to reversing warning.
The claimed hardware to permanently connect the driver to the virtual world (well, the Internet) also depends on another level of hardware. As standard, the Kona will have a five-inch center display (monochrome) that will offer a radio, blue-tooth connectivity, and AUX and USB jacks. When choosing a seven-inch color touch screen, some additional equipment will be available - a rear-view camera when reversing or connecting to smartphones (Apple and Androids). The third option will be an eight-inch color screen that will give the customer a seven-year subscription to Hyundai Live, as well as XNUMXD maps for the navigation device with seven years of continuous updates.
The Kona marks another step in Hyundai's plans to become the leading Asian manufacturer in the European market by 2021. For this, in addition to Kona, a bunch of other new products (models and versions) will be presented, Hyundai claims that there will be 30 of them.
text: Tomaž Porekar · photo: Hyundai and Tomaž Porekar
