The company announced that the stylish compact crossover will feature a 1.6-liter naturally aspirated inline-four coupled to a 32 kW motor for a combined 139 horsepower. The motor is fed by a 1.56 kWh battery. The crossover has also only been announced for Europe.
Despite that, we expect that it's only a matter of time before the Kona Hybrid comes to the States. All those numbers listed up there are identical to those of the Hyundai Ioniq Hybrid and Kia Niro Hybrid. It even uses a six-speed dual-clutch transmission, just like those existing hybrids. And since the Kona's chassis is already on sale here, along with the powertrain in other models, it seems like an inevitability. It seems even more inevitable considering that Hyundai has sold six times as many Konas this year as Ioniqs.
Besides the powertrain, hardly anything changes with the Kona Hybrid. The exterior is identical except for a "Hybrid" badge on the back and some unique wheels both in 16-inch and 18-inch sizes. Inside, the car gets white bezels around vents and the shifter, plus some gloss black accents. Seats are black cloth or leather with white accents. Hyundai is also offering additional color accents in lime green, orange and red. There's also an optional 10.25-inch infotainment screen.
The car goes on sale in Europe this August. As previously mentioned, there are no announcements for a U.S. version, but we expect one will arrive sometime in the near future after the European release.
