Hyundai stops making the Kona EV for South Korea after battery recall


Hyundai is discontinuing its first mass-market electric SUV, the Kona EV, in South Korea following a massive recall due to a fire risk in the battery pack, the Yonhap news agency reports. The automaker will instead turn its focus to the forthcoming Ioniq 5 (and the EVs that will follow it), though Hyundai will still sell the Kona EV in the United States, according to Roadshow.
More than a dozen reports of fires in Kona EV battery packs have been documented since 2019, and so this February, Hyundai finally decided to spend nearly $1 billion to recall 76,000 Kona EVs across its home country (though battery supplier LG Chem is contributing a big portion). It also recalled some Ioniq sedans and electric buses that used the same battery technology. Sales of the Kona EV dropped dramatically following the recall, and some owners have said the process of getting the battery replaced has been a mess.
Hyundai officially started the recall process for the Kona EV in the US in March, and the company has been notifying owners since early April.
One reason Hyundai is still exporting Kona EVs to places like the US is that, just before the original recall in February, it announced a refreshed version of the electric SUV with a facelift and various tech upgrades. It’s also still one of the more affordable electric vehicles on the market in North America that has more than 250 miles of range.
“There are certainly no plans to discontinue the Kona EV in the U.S. market. It is an extremely important product for Hyundai in the U.S. In fact, we recently heavily invested in a mid-cycle enhancement to Kona EV that makes our small CUV even more appealing,” a spokesperson for Hyundai North America said in a statement to The Verge. “We’re also expanding availability into even more states as EV vehicle adoption becomes more widespread. Hyundai has proactively addressed two potential Kona EV safety issues with voluntary recalls.”
Hyundai is discontinuing its first mass-market electric SUV, the Kona EV, in South Korea following a massive recall due to a fire risk in the battery pack, the Yonhap news agency reports. The automaker will instead turn its focus to the forthcoming Ioniq 5 (and the EVs that will follow…
Recent Posts
Archives
- February 2025
- January 2025
- December 2024
- November 2024
- October 2024
- September 2024
- August 2024
- July 2024
- June 2024
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- September 2018
- October 2017
- December 2011
- August 2010