Hyundai plans to make Kona electric SUV

Chennai: Korean carmaker Hyundai will begin manufacturing the Kona electric SUV at its Chennai factory by the second half of the current calendar year, a top executive of the company said on the sidelines of the Tamil Nadu investor summit that began on Wednesday.

The company has announced a fresh investment of Rs 7,000 crore in its Chennai facility. A portion of this would go towards manufacturing its fully-electric SUV made for the Indian market.

“Kona will be launched in the second half of the current calendar year. The car can go up to 350 km per charge and the charging time is 60 minutes. The manufacturing will be geared towards domestic users but at a later point, we will look at exports,” BC Dutta, vice-president of corporate affairs at Hyundai Motor India, told ET.


The remaining investment will be for the manufacturing of other car models, technology updates and machinery, he said. The investment is expected to add 1,500 jobs at the facility and increase production capacity to 8 lakh units from 7 lakh units, said Dutta. The electric vehicle ecosystem in India is expected to gather pace with other carmakers such as M&M, Tata Motors, Nissan and Audi also slating their launches in the coming year.