Hyundai pulls covers off Kona Electric in Geneva

Hyundai has revealed its new Kona Electric SUV in the metal for the first time at the Geneva motor show.

The car, which will spearhead the company’s mainstream attempt at a green revolution, follows the petrol-powered Kona which debuted last year and carries over much of the same bold look of its more traditional sibling.

A pair of different drivetrain options will be available at launch, one producing 133bhp and the other with an output of 201bhp. Torque is identical for the pair at a Porsche 718 Cayman-busting 291lb ft. Both are good for a 0-62mph time of just over 7.5 seconds, while the more powerful of the two will have a range close to 300 miles on a full charge. That's almost double the distance of a BMW i3 EV and more than a Tesla Model 3 can manage.

As might be expected of an electric car, the Kona Electric is loaded with tech, including an nifty feature that allows the driver to adjust the regenerative braking system using paddle shifters on the back of the steering wheel. What’s more, the driver can receive a constant feed of information via a 7-inch 'supervision cluster' in the dashboard.

The supervision cluster isn’t the only safety feature on board though. Thanks to Hyundai's SmartSense package, there’s also autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian detection, blind spot detection including rear cross traffic alert, lane departure warning with lane keep assist, driver attention warning and speed limit information.

Interiors can be specced with a combination of cloth and leather in black, just leather, or a three-tone blue and grey number, again available with cloth and leather or leather. Externally the Kona is already pretty unique, but the electric model does get its own exclusive set of 17-inch wheels.