All-new KONA Electric begins production in Czech Republic

Hyundai Motor announced that they’ve started making the new KONA Electric at their factory in the Czech Republic, called Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Czech (HMMC). In the first year, HMMC plans to make over 20,000 KONA Electric cars. This shows Hyundai is working to sell only cars without emissions in Europe by 2035.

The new KONA’s main version is all-electric (EV), with extra safety and convenience features and a leading driving range. Hyundai made this new KONA as an EV first, according to their plan from March 2022. They’ll bring eleven new Hyundai EVs to the market by 2030.

Hyundai keeps showing their care for their customers in Europe. The first-generation KONA Electric, made in Europe in 2020, was Hyundai’s first electric car here. They decided to also make cars at HMMC, in addition to their Ulsan factory in South Korea, which made the delivery times much shorter for European customers. The new KONA Electric continues this plan to serve Europe better – made in Europe, for Europe.

The experts at HMMC had a big say in making the new model for Europe, starting with the first drawings. This way, they didn’t just shape the new KONA Electric’s personality and features but also thought about the factory details early on.

HMMC thinks that by the end of 2023, about 15 percent of what they make will be KONA Electric. They’ll send these electric cars to 20 more countries, along with the current 22 European markets. This year, they want to make 21,000 of the new KONA Electric cars, and next year, 50,000 more.

They’ll also make the KONA Electric for the UK, Ireland, and Cyprus with the steering wheel on the right side. This electric model will also go to Turkey, Israel, Reunion, and Guadeloupe.

The factory in the Czech Republic will keep making two kinds of KONA Electric with different battery sizes. Both will be faster and go farther than the older ones. The bigger battery, 65.4 kWh, will have a 160 kW motor and go up to 514 km (WLTP). The smaller one, 48.4 kWh, will have a 114.6 kW motor and go up to 377 km (WLTP).

The batteries for the KONA Electric come from LG Energy Solution’s factory in Poland. They put the batteries together at the same HMMC factory that used to make manual transmissions until 2021.
People want electric cars more than expected, and HMMC is seeing this. This year, more than 40 percent of the cars they make are hybrids, plug-in hybrids, or electric cars, and this is growing.

Hyundai will only sell cars without emissions in Europe from 2035. As part of this, they’ll make more and more pure electric cars at HMMC in the coming years.