2020 Hyundai Kona pre-order now open in Malaysia – pricing starts from RM11Xk; RM288 booking fee - Latest Car News, Bike news & Reviews, Auto News

Hyundai-Sime Darby Motors (HSDM) has officially started order taking for the Kona, just a day and several hours after the company teased the model on its Facebook page. It’s been quite a wait for the compact SUV, as it was first previewed at the 2018 KL International Motor Show (KLIMS) and was initially planned to be launched in the second quarter of last year.

If you’re keen on the Kona, you’ll want to head on over to HSDM’s website to register your interest and fork out the RM288 booking fee to secure a unit for yourself. Final pricing has yet to be revealed, but the page does state that it will start from RM11X,XXX.

With the aforementioned starting price, the Kona is certainly within reasonable range of some of its rivals, most notably the popular Honda HR-V that comes in three flavours and currently retails between RM104,000 and RM118,582, with the current SST exemption in effect. Other competitors like the Mazda CX-3 (RM126,829) and Toyota C-HR (RM144,336) have a higher point of entry, and are only offered in a single variant.

The Kona is 4,165 mm long and 1,800 mm wide, which makes it 129 mm shorter than a Honda HR-V, but 28 mm wider. Its height of 1,550 mm is also 55 mm less than the Honda’s 1,605 mm. Meanwhile, the Kona’s wheelbase spans 2,600 mm, which is just 10 mm shy of the Honda’s 2,610 mm.

Exact specifications are unknown for now, but we do know the Kona is available with a few engine options globally. These include a 2.0 litre MPI, 1.0 litre T-GDI three-cylinder and a 1.6 litre Gamma T-GDI. The 1.6 litre unit, which comes with 177 PS, 265 Nm of torque and a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission – was used in the car previewed at KLIMS.

The turbo variant is good for a zero to 100 km/h sprint time of 7.9 seconds and a top speed of 205 km/h. Should this be the variant launched, it would certainly be an interesting alternative to the Kona’s Japanese rivals that feature naturally-aspirated mills. The Hyundai model is also offered with an all-electric powertrain, with Cohesive Mobility Solution (COMOS) previously announcing a leasing plan for the Kona Electric.

Available equipment from the global catalogue include a head-up display (HUD) with navigation, a premium sound system by Krell, wireless charging and Hyundai’s full suite of active safety and driver assist systems, as seen in our market’s Ioniq.

GALLERY: Hyundai Kona 1.6 Turbo at the 2018 KL International Motor Show