Hyundai defends $60K Kona Electric pricing

Stop focussing on the price of the Hyundai Kona Electric!

That’s the call from Hyundai Australia, which wants the $60,000-plus pricetag to be regarded as affordable for a battery electric vehicle and not expensive for a compact SUV.

“If you just keep bashing the price, price, price, price, price, price all the time then I dunno if you actually are thinking properly about what the vehicle represents,” Hyundai Australia marketing boss Bill Thomas told carsales.com.au.

“This is a high-tech zero-emissions car with 450km of range. There are people out there who think that is a hugely appealing vehicle.

“We see it as a leader in terms of an affordable EV with that kind of capability, but we certainly couldn’t have gone any lower on the price given the technology that is packed into the thing.”

You can read more about the specification details of the Hyundai Kona Electric here and how it drives here.

The Kona Electric’s pricing places it at a considerable premium over its internal-combustion powered siblings. The Kona range starts at $23,500 for the front-wheel drive Go and tops out with the Iron Man Edition all-wheel drive at $39,990 (plus ORCs).

“It’s not appealing to a lot of people to pay $60,000 for a car of that size and that range,” conceded Thomas. “Ultimately it’s got less range than a petrol Kona.

“If you want to compare the two there then there are all sorts of arguments against the Kona Electric, but that’s not who we are aiming at. We are aiming at a completely different buyer.”

The battery-powered Kona also costs about $15,000 more than the Hyundai IONIQ Electric hatch (from $44,990), $14,000 more than Mitsubishi’s larger plug-in hybrid SUV, the Outlander PHEV (from $45,990), and $10,000 more than the upcoming MkII Nissan LEAF electric hatch (from $49,990).

The price positioning is dictated by its sizeable 64kWh lithium-ion polymer battery which plays a key role in delivering a WLTP-validated 449km range. Hyundai expects to sell about 400 Kona Electrics per annum in Australia.

“We were never going to sell it as that mass [volume] break-though [car],” said Thomas.

“There are people who will really understand the benefits that it delivers, not only for their own convenience and mobility but also for the fact it’s a zero emissions car.”

One potential target for Hyundai are Tesla Model 3 buyers gown tired of waiting for that car to arrive.

“We are certainly interested in anyone who is keen to understand the car and I’d have thought most people who put money down on a Model 3 sight unseen had a far understanding of the car’s capability,” said Thomas.

“Then again there might be people out there who were considering another Tesla or perhaps a Jaguar I-PACE or maybe an BMW i3. I’d have thought the i3 crossover would be quite interesting.”

Interestingly, Thomas didn’t shy away from the potential for a very different Kona, a high-performance turbo-petrol N version, to fill the substantial pricing hole between the orthodox models and the Electric.

“The high performance team have already built a Kona N and it’s running around at the test centre in Korea,” Thomas said. “I think the idea of a quick, well-sorted Kona with an N badge would be very interesting.

“We are interested in that Kona if we can get it and if it’s confirmed for release.”