Hyundai reveals more Kona secrets

Hyundai has released the first teaser video of its all-new Kona – the Korean giant’s first compact SUV – revealing key design details ahead of its Australian arrival in September.

At the same time, it has announced the Kona will be available with Hyundai’s first head-up display system, comprising a Mazda-style pop-up panel on the instrument binnacle.

Hyundai says the 8.0-inch projected colour image, which displays key driving information including navigation and lane departure alerts directly in the driver’s line of sight, will feature a class-leading luminance of 10,000 candela per square metre to guarantees daytime visibility.

We already saw from last month’s initial teaser image that the Kona – which takes its name from a Hawaiian volcano – takes on a taut, stout exterior design with a front-end featuring chunky bonnet sculpting, a large trapezoidal grille and a Jeep Cherokee-style twin-headlight design in which a strip of LED daytime running lights are actually positioned above the LED headlights.

Now the first teaser video reveals short overhangs, sharp bodyside, a fussy C-pillar and de rigeur SUV styling elements like bulging wheel-arches, roof rails and matt plastic mouldings around the lower body.

All this creates a small crossover with a broad, sleek stance and a peculiar front-end design punctuated by twin headlights and Hyundai’s new ‘cascading grille’ family identity.

No further details have been provided ahead of the car’s reveal this winter and its release in Australia and Europe in Spring, although Hyundai does say the head-up display is just one example of “making premium features more accessible for a convenient and safe driving experience”.

Expect the Kona’s size, packaging and price to make it a direct rival for popular small SUVs like the Mazda CX-3, Toyota C-HR, Nissan QASHQAI and JUKE, Honda HR-V, Mitsubishi ASX, Ford EcoSport, Suzuki Vitara, Fiat 500X, Jeep Renegade and Renault Captur.

To be positioned beneath the mid-size Tucson and large Santa Fe from under $25,000, the Kona shares its new underpinnings with Hyundai’s latest i30 hatch and Elantra sedan, but will be the first model on that platform to feature all-wheel drive.

Like its chief rivals – and the i30, once Hyundai produces a 280kW AWD version of the upcoming i30N hot hatch to rival the Ford Focus RS – the Kona will be available in both 2WD and AWD form.