Thanks to our colleagues at AutoPost, we can share with you in exclusive the first interior picture of the Hyundai Kona N, spied on its 3rd stage of development, almost ready for production, and we a few details we found interesting. For example, we can see the N-performance steering wheel with paddle shifters for the first time (that also confirms the AT tranmission availability) or the new & big infotainment system that will include the N-custom program configuration.
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What we know so far?
The Hyundai Kona is a relatively new product on the market – more precisely, it was launched for the 2018 model year in the United States. And while we’ve seen spy photos with the South Korean crossover, they were related to the N performance version or hybrid variant of the model. This is the first time we can share shots showing a prototype of the facelifted Kona.
We are quite surprised to see the test car wearing an extensive amount of camouflage considering the fact that we are expecting just a minor mid-cycle refresh, different that what we have seen on the Grandeur facelift or what the Santa Fe is going to receive that are closer to a model change than just a facelift.
But thanks to this new spy pictures we can see that the changes are wider, just look at the picture below and you will see a new grille similar to what we have seen in the Santa Fe facelift and a new pair of headlights that remains me the new Kia Sorento, we also can see some smaller changes to the front bumper.
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At the back there will be equal small changes (initially we thought the headlights and indicators keep the same design), but these are stage 2 prototypes and now are wearing production tailights which are different and also looks like indicators and reverse lights are now full LED in the N-Line.
So we can see new rear light graphics, possibly conneted tailights? and this N-line has a sportier bumpers, with some imitation of fake air vents under black glossy, side skirts and red accents all over it. Updated engines and a small update to the interior is also planned as well as the high performance variant, the Kona N.
So finally, while the Kona N will have the 2.0 T-GDi engine, with 275 hp and 8-speed DCT wet transmission, the N-line will have the new Smartstream 1.6 Turbo GDi delivering 215 hp and matted to a 8-speed DCT. In the mean time, the regular Kona will receive the same engine as Sonata DN8, will the 1.6 Turbo GDi, 180 hp and 8 speed Automatic Transmission. In some parts of the world the latest is the most powerful engine available, while in South Korea is the base gasoline engine.
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