The Hyundai Kona is a funky, sportyish entrant in the oftentimes bland and underpowered subcompact crossover SUV segment. Its headlights are seemingly in the wrong place, Hyundai offers fun paint colors for it, and it even offers a punchy turbo engine option. For the new model year, the subcompact Kona adds a sleek-looking special edition to its ranks: The 2021 Hyundai Kona Night Edition.
As its name suggests, the Night Edition features a blacked-out exterior and other dark and brooding cosmetic upgrades, per a seeming unspoken industry playbook for blacked-out trim packages, which are beginning to feel pretty played out by now. Go ahead, name a mainstream automaker that doesn’t offer some variation on the “night,” “midnight,” “shadow,” and [insert an adjective to describe the absence of light] theme. We’ll wait. Even though this idea may have jumped the shark years ago, that’s not to say it doesn’t improve the Kona; we think the dark treatment gives the Hyundai a more mature look. Among the Night’s upgrades are good-looking 18-inch Rays semi-gloss black-painted wheels, LED headlights and taillights pulled from the Kona Limited and Ultimate trims, aluminum pedals, and black trim everywhere.
All Night Edition models come with the 1.6-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine from the Limited and Ultimate trims, as well. This engine produces 175 horsepower and 195 lb-ft of torque, routed through a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission to the front or all four wheels. And while you’d think that something named “Night Edition” would only come in black, the Kona is available in Galactic Gray and Chalk White in addition to Ultra Black. So, looks like it’s only nighttime for the trim.
Look for the special edition to darken dealerships this September. Hyundai says the Kona is a limited production model, so you don’t want to wait too long to act if you want one. Prices for the 2021 Hyundai Kona Night Edition have yet to be announced, but we can look to the 2020 Hyundai Kona Limited and Ultimate trims (starting at $27,240 and $29,090) for some guidance on what to expect.
