High demand for Hyundai Kona EV sees 10 month wait for customers

Electric car enthusiasts have suggested that long lead times on Hyundai Kona EV orders could give the Tesla Model 3 an advantage in the UK market when the first cars arrive next year.

The affordable EV – which offers a real-world 300 miles of range for its £32,795 starting price (after the Plug-in Car Grant of £3,500) has proved popular – a spokesperson for Hyundai confirmed over 500 orders in the UK, and in Norway over 7,000 orders have been placed.

However, demand has outstripped supply, and as a result Hyundai has been forced to push back lead times on new orders to 10 months – meaning a car ordered now would not be delivered until August 2019.

That could leave room for Tesla’s Model 3 to leap in and claim the affordable EV crown, with prices expected to start from around £35,000 for the entry-level model with 220 miles of range.

Tesla chief executive Elon Musk has previously promised a ‘mid-2019’ release date for the Model 3 in RHD markets, which would see the first pre-ordered cars available to customers from June 2019.

Electric car blog InsideEVs said: “It seems the Tesla Model 3 will now arrive in the UK sooner than the Hyundai Kona Electric due to a huge delivery delay for the Kona. This could be a big win for Tesla and an unfortunate loss for Hyundai.”

However, Tesla’s delivery date applies only to those cars which have already been ordered – meaning a buyer placing an order today for either the Kona or the Model 3 would still find the Kona arrives first.

Hyundai UK’s delivery delays are based on an allocation from the manufacturer – the brand’s UK CEO, Tony Whitehorn, told motoring publication Auto Express: “People are buying them without even seeing them. I could take 5,000 cars this year – I’m getting 1,000.”

More than 50 Kona EVs have so far been delivered in the UK. Tesla’s Model 3 is yet to make an appearance in RHD form, though it’s on sale in the US where it’s been receiving rave reviews.