Hyundai’s futuristic front light bar is here to stay. Hyundai is redesigning one of its first fully electric vehicles, the Kona, with a lot of cues from its futuristic Ioniq 5. Hyundai scraps some of the curvy features with the redesigned Kona and adopts a flatter hood and a light bar that reminds us of the Ioniq SUV.
The new Kona’s look is a notable departure from the original Kona, which signals that Hyundai is more invested in this futuristic styling for its EVs. For Hyundai, the Kona was always meant to be designed as an EV first, but it was later converted into its hybrid electric and ICE variants.
Extra roomy — Hyundai emphasized more interior space with the Kona redesign, making it a half-foot longer than the previous version. The subcompact SUV will measure nearly 14 feet long with a redesigned interior meant to make the Kona feel roomier. Hyundai also shifted the Kona’s center console to behind the steering wheel, so there’s more space in the SUV’s center column.
The updated Kona will have 12.3-inch displays that make up the infotainment system and are combined into a “floating module.” There’s ambient lighting inside, but Hyundai is putting a “Pixelated Seamless Horizon Lamp” on the Kona’s hood. It’s mostly just a fancy light bar above the headlights, but Hyundai says it’s the first EV with this pixelated light bar. It’s a lot thinner than the Ioniq 5’s light bar, but we can definitely see the inspiration behind it.
All-in on futuristic design — Since it’s just a first look, Hyundai didn’t release any power or range specs for the updated Kona. So far, we only know that the Kona will be available in four variants including the all-electric, the hybrid electric, the ICE, and the performance-oriented N Line versions.
While it’s only the Kona that’s getting a revamp so far, its redesign speaks to Hyundai’s confidence in the futuristic look developed for the Ioniq 5. We saw two unique looks with Hyundai EVs through the Ioniq 5 and the ultra-curvy Ioniq 6, but the former may be the design that defines the Korean automaker’s future EVs.
