Hyundai Kona

Hyundai will bring this SUV with an electric powertrain late 2019 to India. Are you ready?

- Bob Rupani

Starting late next year, Hyundai Motor India Limited will start selling the purely electric-powered Hyundai Kona in our country that will have you looking at power charging points differently. While earlier reports have suggested that Hyundai would make its foray into electric-powered vehicles for India with the Ioniq, it is now confirmed that the Hyundai Kona is their preferred choice, because their surveys revealed that an SUV platform would be more appropriate than a sedan for the increasingly choosy Indian consumer.

While the Hyundai Kona is available in some parts of the world with diesel and petrol powered conventional internal combustion engines, it will come to India exclusively as the Kona Electric and we are told it is capable of going over 350km on a single charge. Hyundai is keen to showcase their battery-powered prowess and is hopeful that the Indian government will also give some tax breaks or lower the duty or GST, to encourage the entry of fully electrically driven vehicles like the Kona. But as of now, we can expect a price in the range of Rs 25 lakh and as Hyundai initially plans on bringing just 1,000 Konas here, their exclusivity and drawing power is assured.

Styling

For long we have seen manufacturers opting for designs and styling that makes their electric vehicles look different. Quite honestly, most attempts are over the top and as a result, we also have manufacturers who have been treading on the side of caution and favouring more conventional designs, saying electric vehicles don’t necessarily have to look different.