As we told you earlier this month, Hyundai’s newest offering, the B-segment Kona crossover, arrived with a base price below that of its subcompact competition. At $20,450 after delivery for a base, front-drive SE, the Kona slots below the entry MSRPs of the Honda HR-V, Toyota C-HR, Chevrolet Trax, and Mazda CX-3.
Value, the Kona trumpets, has arrived.
Well, not if you’re leasing the Kona’s volume trim: the SEL model.
As exposed by CarsDirect, a national lease introduced by Hyundai on Friday serves up a pretty unappealing deal for the Kona most lessees will want.
The offer sees a Kona SEL going for $269 a month (for 36 months), with $2,399 due at signing. That works out to $336 a month for a vehicle selling for $22,100 after delivery. While the SEL adds niceties like driver assistance features, the interior stays pretty much stock. No leatherette in sight. Power comes by way of a 2.0-liter four-cylinder making 147 hp and 132 lb-ft of torque, paired with a six-speed automatic. (Going up a rung on the trim ladder brings a 1.6-liter turbo into the equation.)
The lease really starts to smell when you contrast it with the mid-level Kona’s competition.
Less money gets you into an HR-V EX-L with navigation. Honda’s currently offering that model for $239 a month for 36 months, with $2,999 due at signing; or, an effective cost of $322 per month. And that’s for a model costing nearly four grand more.
Even elsewhere in the Hyundai range, there’s deals capable of swaying a would-be Kona lessee into a larger vehicle. Despite an MSRP $3,800 higher than the Kona’s, the Santa Fe Sport can be had for $249 a month for 36 months, with $2,799 due at signing. This works out to $327 a month.
This offer might not be around for long, as current lease deals run out at the end of the month. Still, it’s food for thought for those eager to drive the newest B-segment on the block. Besides this odd lease, the Kona’s pricing, plus its list of standard or available content, does amount to a serious challenge to rivals in the subcompact field.
Only the model’s avant-garde appearance stands in the way of value-minded buyers, though who knows — it could be a help, not a hindrance.
[Images: Hyundai]
Most folks don’t have 500$ set aside for a minor emergency; where are they going to find 2,399$ for a downpayment on a lease? That won’t work. For a broke middle class the real attractive offers are the 0 down kind, that’s what Hyundai should be offering.
Better question: who would put money down on a lease to begin with?
Personally, I think that’s crazy…but it’s not my money.
People that “gotta have it!”.
I put money down on leases (usually 1500$) since I’d rather spend the money now when I have it to make my payments cheaper in the future since who knows what my situation will be over the next 4 years.
Just asking, though…$1500 over 36 months is what, $40 a month?
If the budget’s that tight, why buy to begin with?
Just sayin’…
Personally, I’d rather put that $1500 into something that might actually make me money. YMMV.
I never put money down on a lease. If you total the car, all that money is gone.
Bingo.
Any money you put down on a lease, including the lease payments, is gone.
Amen. Every lease I’ve gotten for my wife has been a $0 down. If I’m putting money down, I’m buying the damn thing.
Give it time. When Hyundai starts piling the cash on the hood (as it does), the lease deals will get a lot better.
Jeep called, they have asked for their Cherokee head lamps back.
No they didn’t. They tried it out, realized they were ugly an got rid of them. Hyundai can have them, i think their design language is already ugly, so no damages done in my eyes.
It’s ugly, but the Hyundai arguably wears it better than the Cherokee did.
Again, Citroen was doing it before Jeep and Hyundai did something like this on a concept years ago.
Plus, the way Hyundai did the DRLs (actually making them look like slim headlights) is superior to the derpy attempt Jeep made on the Cherokee.
Sure, Jeep wasn’t the first. But every time a brand tries this style (in the usa at least) it ultimately fails. It lasts one generation, usually isn’t even face lifted, and usually the entire model does with the style. The aztek (actually made a face lift), the juke, the Cherokee (it’s actually making a new generation, but sans the ugly triple-light arrangement).
I’m sure there are other examples, but i can’t think of them. Unless a company really wants to go for the quirky identity, they just can’t make this style work for more than a few years.
I actually like the looks of this thing when it’s blue, I don’t care for it in other colors though.
I like its’ looks in general.
I don’t care how many surfboards Hyundai photographs alongside this thing, it’s not going to be a “gotta have it” car. It certainly won’t command a lease payment with a large down payment. And a word to Hyundai’s marketing team, if you’re going to imply this thing can be used for surfing, surf boards require that there be cross bars on the roof.
Throw in some Kona coffee with every sale and ship as many as possible to Hawaii for rental cars.
Cowabunga!
The biggest single expense in a new car… and the one you don’t get a monthly bill for… is depreciation. Unless, of course, you lease. And what’s the fastest depreciating SUV segment? This one (there was a posting on TTAC about this recently).
Rav4 XLE AWD leases out for about $225/mo with nothing down, in the PacNwst. I’m sure the CR-V has comparable deals. That’s the resale point in this segment, not the B-class CUV’s.
Well, really, what you’re paying for on a lease IS depreciation, plus interest. So, in the end, the cars that depreciate more cost more to lease.
But having said that, I’m with you – none of the vehicles in this class look particularly good to lease to me.
“Rav4 XLE AWD leases out for about $225/mo with nothing down, in the PacNwst.”
Are you sure about that? RAV4 XLE AWD starts at $27,000. Everything i’m seeing online is more like $300 a month with $1,500 down.
It doesn’t matter.
What matters is that kona, or cona, in Brazilian Portuguese, means vagina.
Where is the research, Hyundai? Don’t you have an office in Rio?
It’s the Hyundai Kauai in Portuguese-speaking countries.
….no, but they have an orifice in Rio.
The biggest problem for Kona (aside from the lease deal) is that it’s smaller than many of its competitors.
While this may not matter in Europe and similar markets, here size/interior space matters.
Still, recently launched in Australia, the Kona has already made to the #3 spot – behind the CX-3 and Subie XV and ahead of the CH-R and HR-V.
A face only a mother could love.