Hyundai Motor Co. said Tuesday it will unveil its brand new subcompact sport utility vehicle locally on June 13 as it released a teaser image highlighting the car's low silhouette and wide stance.
South Korea's largest carmaker by sales is set to make its foray into North American and European markets this summer with the Kona SUV. Hyundai said the B-segment SUV market, which its new vehicle falls into, has been attracting growing number of customers globally.
Teaser image of Hyundai Motor Co.'s new subcompact SUV Kona (Hyundai Motor Co.)
The home market for SUVs grew from 12,000 units in 2013 to 107,000 last year. Industry watchers expect the market to surpass 120,000 by 2022.
"Kona was built with a height that is higher than passenger vehicles of same class but lower than conventional SUVs," the automaker said, describing it as a "perfected SUV" that offers a excellent mix of steadiness and visibility.
The teaser image shows Kona with what will be the first combiner head-up display on any South Korean-made SUV. In a step forward for vehicle HUDs, the combiner system mirrors information on the instrument panel on a separate glass disc instead of on the windshield. Hyundai said it plans to add more information to the display system on top of its navigational functions.
Kona will complete Hyundai's SUV lineup that has the compact Tucson, midsize Santa Fe and the larger Maxcruz. (Yonhap)
