The Hyundai Kona Electric will launch in Australia early next year, and the Korean brand has declared that while it won't be a price leader, the brand has very strong targets.
Speaking to CarAdvice at the launch of the updated Tucson, Hyundai Australia product planning manager, Andrew Tuitahi, said that the company is working hard to get the pricing right.
"I'm not sure that we'd pitch it as a price leader, because for us it's a flagship technology. We've had really, really firm targets that we're trying to work towards,' he said.
"We want the car to be competitive, but it's not so much about being a price leader within the SUV space because we think the product, the range, the performance kind of speaks for itself."
"I can confidently say definitely under $60,000 or $70,000. [But] I can't tell you what the target is just yet," he added.
In terms of competitors on the market, the only active electric vehicle currently on sale within this price bracket is the Renault Zoe, which is priced from $44,470 (plus on-road costs).
The Zoe offers a driving range of around 400km using a 41kWh battery, while the Kona Electric will travel 470km courtesy of a 64kWh battery pack.
Any hopes of Hyundai rolling out public or customer charging infrastructure were dashed when the brand knocked back the idea of following the lead of Jaguar, who is spending $4 million on charging infrastructure for its customers.
"We won't be offering our own charging infrastructure, as in a fast charge network. I think there will be options for that and we'll be able to announce something in the near future as to what that might be our perspective and what we're going to be offering customers," Tuitahi said.
"Charging for electric cars is a mindset, so we're going to make sure that customers will be able to buy an AC charger for their home. And it's really going to be an education piece to try and encourage them to treat their car like their mobile home. As long as the car's charging whenever it's stationary it's unlikely that they'll need to use a DC charger, especially with a car like the Kona and its real world range."
"And, that DC charge and that fast charge network really just becomes necessary for intercity travels, opposed to your daily grind or your regular commute."
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