2027 Hyundai Kona to be ANCAP star

Make sure it gets a five-star ANCAP rating! That’s the feedback Hyundai Australia has delivered to its Korean parent as development nears completion on the all-new Kona compact SUV ahead of its 2027 launch.

Hyundai is skipping a major mid-life facelift and going straight to a third generation of the Kona in 2027.

It replaces the model range that launched in Australia in 2023 with petrol and hybrid options, before the Kona Electric was introduced in 2024.

The current Kona generated headlines when it was awarded a four-star ANCAP rating in 2024, rather than the maximum five stars, thanks to lower ratings in the Vulnerable Road User Protection and Safety Assist test silos.

The rating locked the Kona out of a potential fleet sale opportunities and prompted Hyundai to urge more respect be given to four-star ratings.

But ANCAP criticised Hyundai’s inability to achieve the full five-star rating against 2023 protocols and called on it to upgrade the Kona.

Despite its star rating, Kona has become Hyundai’s biggest seller in Australia, helped by the demise of the i30 small car.

“For [2027] Kona, we want to make sure it meets all the safety requirements,” said Hyundai Australia COO Gavin Donaldson when asked about key requirements for the new generation.

“So if they meet the ANCAP requirements, that's what we want to make sure.”

Donaldson wants that five-star rating so Kona will be available to all potential fleet buyers.

“I think five-star just gives you the best opportunity to ensure that you have the ability to sell across every channel in the Australian market,” said Donaldson.

“[Four stars] limits your opportunity to sell in certain fleet markets when it's all said and done. It could have done better [in fleet sales].”

The bigger picture is the short four-year timeline on the swap to a new-gen Kona and just why it is happening.

“I think the optimisations that we were considering for a mid-life cycle made more sense to just do as a full model change,” explained Hyundai Australia product development manager Tim Rodgers, who is already involved in advanced planning for the new model.

“That’s really what it comes down to. There's an efficiency we find in investment by doing it that way.”

Rodgers conceded this strategy meant the current Kona sits in market longer without an update.

However, he pointed to new model lines such as Elite and the recent price repositioning as proof of ongoing attention and change.

“It's got technology that's still rolling out in some of our later models,” said Rodgers.

Hyundai will also launch a new generation Tucson mid-size SUV in 2027 (it’s on a more orthodox six-year product cycle), which means Hyundai’s current top two sellers will go through major changes in the same year.

“It’s not Hyundai if we’re not doing that,” said Donaldson.

“We look at this year, and we've got about five or six products coming out. We're just used to having cars come out en masse.”

If you’re wondering what those five to six new models Hyundai is bring to Australia in 2026 are, this is what’s been confirmed so far:

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