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2018 Hyundai Kona: first glimpse of new small SUV styling

 

Ahead of a global reveal later this year, the 2018 Hyundai Kona has been further teased by the Korean brand this week, with a single silhouetted image of the small SUV’s front-end lighting fed to automotive media.

The Kona is Hyundai’s long-awaited entrant to the booming small SUV segment, where it will compete with favourites like the Honda HR-V, Mazda CX-3, Mitsubishi ASX, and newcomer Toyota C-HR.

What we’ve learned is that the Kona will depart from the familiar styling of the brand’s popular, mid-sized Tucson SUV for a more radical face, with a split-level headlight assembly that looks like a more successful element than that used on the Jeep Cherokee.

At the top level sits an LED daytime running light strip and likely the amber indicator assembly, while the main-beam headlight will sit below a piece of body-coloured metal.

Each frame the prominent split-level grille that sees a narrow top slit sitting above a larger diamond-like hexagonal grille featuring an oversize Hyundai badge.

Hyundai tells us the combination of these features creates a “confident, progressive” face.

The Kona will be one of the most anticipated debuts of mid-2017, with the small SUV market buoyant, up 2% in 2016 to over 108,000 units.

However, that’s literally all I’ve got to tell you, until the drip-feed of the Kona continues. Next update? Perhaps a wing mirror.