Kiwi-favoured Kona EV pulled from home market

Hyundai has determined to keep exporting the five-seater, according to media reports from South Korea.

ONE of New Zealand’s most popular electric cars, the Hyundai Kona EV, has reportedly been withdrawn from sale, but only in its home market.

Media in South Korea are reporting today that Hyundai is discontinuing the model’s local availability, saying the decision to “phase the car out” locally is as a result of a massive recall due to a fire risk in the battery pack, an issue that first became public in news reports last October.

Yonhap News Agency reports that the car’s image has been tainted by a series of battery fires, which prompted the maker to recall more than 75,680 units in February jointly with battery maker LG Energy Solution Ltd.

They say the five-seater medium sport utility will continue to be built for export.

Comment about the situation and any implications for this market has been sought from the brand’s national distributor. 

Hyundai New Zealand has enjoyed great success with the model, which it introduced in 2018 and sells in $76,000 and $86,000 formats. It is poised to release a mid-life update variant with performance and range improvements plus styling and specification changes.

The fire danger issue for Kona EV also implicated the smaller Ioniq hatchback in its fully electric format and has made headlines in South Korea for some months. 

It was acknowledged by Hyundai New Zealand on February 25, a day after Hyundai Korea announcing intention to replace the batteries in 82,000 vehicles, the majority of them Konas, at cost of around $US900 million. It’s been called the biggest and most expensive recall for any electric car.

Since then Hyundai distributors around the world have progressively initiated recalls to undertake the intensive and time-consuming process of a battery swap, but it is still not clear if Hyundai NZ has started this process.

Last November it recalled 724 Kona EVs in NZ ownership – examples built between September 29, 2017, and March, 20, 2020 - having been advised by the factory that "the lithium-ion battery may have internal damage or the battery management system control software may cause an electrical short circuit after charging" which could result in a fire.

The immediate remedy for this was to change the battery management system and, if that did not work, Hyundai advised the same procedure it proposes for the global recall – pulling out the battery, a hefty and large item which completely fills out under the floor and is all but a structural component, and replacing it.

When last approached for comment, in late February, a spokesperson for the Auckland-based distributor said it was aware of the situation “however, (we) are waiting for official communication from Hyundai Motor Company with regards to this recall and the number of EVs affected here in New Zealand.

“Safety of our customers is paramount, so as soon as we have a list of affected vehicles we will contact those customers to advise next steps.”

As of mid-afternoon today, no action for the problem had been notified on the national new vehicle recalls register.

When the story broke, a major South Korean news outlet, Business Korea, reported 15 individual incidents of battery-related fires as having been recorded in Kona EVs. Similar fires have also been reported in Ioniq electric cars.

Since this matter first aired Hyundai has announced a new generation electric car, the Five, produced under a freshly-established sub-brand that it (confusingly) also calls Ioniq.

The Ioniq 5 will release in New Zealand late this year; it is a larger, more powerful car than the Kona EV and, being based on a new bespoke platform and having more technology, is expected to be rather more expensive.

Korean news agencies said today that Hyundai will from now on promote the Ioniq 5 as its primary electric offering in South Korea.

 Hyundai will only sell Kona EVs in stock for the domestic market, while continuing to export them to overseas markets, company officials said.

Yonhap reported that the production of Kona EVs has been halted since March “in consideration of the domestic demand and to realign the assembly line for new EVs."

Hyundai sold more than 10,000 Kona EVs in South Korea in 2018 and 2019, but sales dropped to about 8000 units last year following the fires and what Yonhap has described as “the maker's mishandling of the recall programme.”

Hyundai sold only 984 units in the domestic market in the first quarter, a 40 percent drop from a year earlier, while its overseas sales fell 17.9 percent on-year to 7428 units, its financial reports showed.

The brand has high hopes for Ioniq 5, saying it has received strong responses in the domestic market alone, drawing over 40,000 preorders so far.

Staria confirmed for NZ release

Hyundai here says it will take the big lugger, but offers few other details

 TWO, five and eight-seat configurations will apply in Kiwi market versions of the Hyundai Staria, a van whose styling is definitely out of the box.

 Aside from provisioning the seat counts – which suggest a pure commercial/speed camera version, plus two that will potentially set to act in family-sized people carrier and potentially a luxury minivan mode – Hyundai New Zealand is giving little away in respect to the model.

It says specifications for this market will be released closer launch, though the date for that is also undetermined. The best the Auckland-based distributor can offer is that arrival is due in “the second half of this year.”

Staria’s bold styling has attracted a lot of attention but so has its sheer size; the full length is 5.2 metres and it has a 3.2m wheelbase.

The chair configurations for this market seem to be different than those cited by Hyundai headquarters. They have also spoken of a seven-seater in a plush Premium layout, above, which offers reclining armchairs in the second and third row. They also configure an 11-seater. Hyundai NZ says that one is not on their wish list.

Insofar as powertrains go, it gets the 2.2-litre four-cylinder turbodiesel and 3.5-litre V6 petrol that serve in the super-sized Palisade sports utility, these respectively outputting 129kW and 431Nm and 199kW and 331Nm. 

There’s no suggestion that it is in line for the hybrid drivetrains that Hyundai has also developed, for Santa Fe.

Ute-like Santa Cruz reveal close

With the big debut days just away, Hyundai muddies the waters about what it has finally created.

WE’D be comfortable calling it a utility … but Hyundai is insisting its long-awaited Santa Cruz traydeck is something else.

 When pressed on what that makes it, though, they seem lost for words.

So goes the latest news in respect to a model that, after a remarkably long development process – remember, the concept was unveiled in Los Angeles six years ago – now seems close to entering production.

We’ll know a lot more later this week; Hyundai plans on Thursday to release a wealth of detail about its unibodied trucklet, including what markets will take it and when.

Will that include New Zealand? The brand’s distributor has sporadically expressed interest, but never outright said it’s in the queue.

Potentially it might be, given that information out of Hyundai North America, which has taken the lead on this project, suggests the vehicle is based on the latest Tucson, which is now coming into this market. 

Of course, that relationship only becomes meaningful if Santa Cruz is also built in left-hand-drive.

Anyway, ahead of the big reveal, Hyundai has released not only some images but also a video from its design studio in California talking about the new model. 

As you can see, the production has Brad Arnold, the design manager of Hyundai North America, stating it’s “not a truck” but instead is “… a Santa Cruz."

That proposition has gone down interestingly in the US, with leading website Autoblog summing up the situation well by commenting that, if it’s not what it appears to be, what does it become? Suggests the site: “So, um, it's a city? A skateboard brand? A school whose mascot is the banana slug?”

Turns out, Hyundai is striving to enforce this model is especially designed to fit into an environment a lot of outdoorsy utes sold in NZ also find themselves coping with. The city.

"It's meant to thrive in dense urban environments, and the open outdoors," Arnold states.

So it’s soft? Well, maybe. As Autoblog says, it’s based on the Tucson and no-one will confuse that model as being a hard-out off-roader, either.

Kona update lifts model choice, prices

Sporty looking N-Line a prelude to a properly fiery N yet to come.

 FRESHENED styling, more tech – and price increases.

That’s the story in respect the carryover editions in what’s being called Kona Series II, a mid-life update of the brand’s popular compact crossover that continues with familiar drivetrains but delivers a new family member that elevates optimal spend for a petrol edition.

The new equivalents of variants that have represented in the pre-facelift lineup and deliver with powertrains are the IVT, Elite IVT and Limited IVT.

These respectively price at $34,990, $39,990 and $44,990.

This means the cheapest and most expensive variants are $3000 dearer than previously, while the mid-grade lifts by $2000. 

These model all run with a 2.0-litre engine, making 110kW and 180Nm, paired with a constantly variable transmission with eight pre-set steps and are front-drive. 

Above these places a new configuration, the Kona N-Line, which adopts a sports styling package absent from the cheaper cars and also has a 1.6-litre turbocharged petrol, married to a seven-speed automated manual. 

The N-Line achieves specific signatures of bonnet vents on the nose, a “motorsport-inspired” front end, body colour claddings, a larger rear spoiler and diamond-cut wheels.

This 146kW/265Nm version costs $49,990 and will stand as a fossil fuelled flagship only temporarily, as Hyundai NZ has signalled it will ultimately also represent with the Kona N – a high performance variant expected before year-end.  

The first SUV to be reworked by Hyundai’s  N Division, the Kona N achieves a 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine, in marriage to an eight-speed dual clutch transmission – and potentially, might deliver in front- rather than four-wheel-drive.

It’s the same engine that serves the brand’s current sole N division emissary in New Zealand, the i30 N, and while outputs have yet to be announced, it's likely they will match the 206kW and 392Nm the hot hatch delivers.

Hyundai has previously promised the powertrain will be flavoured by a launch control and a sports exhaust.

Hyundai NZ has also yet to receive the updated Kona Electric, which adopts the same altered styling cues seen on the petrol-wed cars and delivers with an electric powertrain that gives more range and better performance than the current car’s.

The present electric model has been subject to concern about the integrity of its battery, with the brand effecting a recall in many markets. 

The Series II gets a new front-end design. There are redesigned narrow LED daytime running lights above the separate headlight cluster and wheel arch cladding contrasting with the body colour. The rear end is also restyled, though less radically than the front. 

Inside is a new console area and it achieves an electric parking brake, ambient lights, aluminium finishing around the speakers and air vents and a leather option. 

New to this model is the option of a 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster. In addition, the new Kona also comes with an optional 10.25-inch touchscreen multimedia system.

Safety and driver assist ingredients run to active cruise control, lane-keep assist, autonomous emergency braking, blind-spot collision avoidance assist, rear cross-traffic alert and safe exit warning to forward collision avoidance assist with optional cyclist detection.

It picks up leading vehicle departure alert, which alerts a driver as to when a stationary vehicle in front has moved on.