Hyundai Kona N to ditch petrol for electric power

This compact performance SUV has been a hit with local buyers, but there are no plans to bring it back in its current form.

There are no plans for a new petrol-powered Hyundai Kona N .

Hyundai has no plans to develop a replacement for the sporty turbo 2.0-litre N version of the Kona SUV that’s popular in Australia.

That doesn’t mean a sports version of the model is off the table – it just means any potential new model will be an electric vehicle.

The new Hyundai Kona is unlikely to have a petrol-powered N version (current model shown).

Hyundai says it hasn’t yet decided whether to produce a successor to the N.

“We will see how the market moves,” says compact vehicle management group executive Se Hyuk Park.

But another powerful petrol-burning turbo engine, as in the current Kona N, isn’t even being considered, he says.

The current Kona N has found a cult following in Australia.

“If we have to work on the high-performance vehicle for Kona, that could be electric, definitely.”

Could be, or would be? Asked if any future Kona N would be an EV, Park’s answer is

simple: “Right.”

And it turns out that Hyundai has already given some thought to the Kona N replacement question. Adding a second electric motor to the single-motor Kona EV is the preferred solution.

Hyundai says if there is to be a new Kona N it’ll be electric powered.

“If the customer expectation is getting higher then we are very capable of doing the rear-wheel motor in future,” says Park.

“We already have that solution, but not for Kona right now.”

A Kona N with two electric motors delivering all-wheel drive would be much quicker

than the current turbo 2.0-litre four-powered front-driver. More power and better

traction always add up to snappier acceleration and these are exactly what a dual-

motor Kona N EV would deliver.

The new Hyundai Kona is due later this year.

Hyundai believes the pace of electrification, globally, is likely to increase rapidly. The

petrol and hybrid versions of the new Kona will be the strongest sellers at launch but

this isn’t likely be the case at the end of its production life.

“EV is growing so fast,” says head of Hyundai’s EV strategy division Sang Hyeon

Park.

“Our expectation is that much more the priority goes to the EV.”

Does he think the Kona EV will be the best-selling version of the small SUV five

years from now?

“I believe so,” he says.

In this context, a battery-powered Kona N makes a lot of sense.