Last-ever Kona N: Just 26 cars left in stock

Grand sale, grand sale...

Well, not quite – there are no bargains on offer here, unless you get it into your head that the one-run Kona N will be a collector's item some day.

With the bigger and more family-focused second-generation Kona now on the market, and no plans for a hot version (well, no announced plans), the company's local arm there are just 26 examples left of the outgoing Kona N.

The 26 Ns are spread across New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia.

'Hot SUVs' have been a polarising concept since the Grand Cherokee SRT appeared, and that was only stoked by the blasphemous launches of the Cayenne and X5 in increasingly hot forms. Now you can scarcely find an SUV line-up without a fast hero model.

The type has become wildly capable over the years, however, and few more so than the Kona N. At its Australian launch, tested on road and track, we scored it an 8.5 out of 10. Not a perfect car by any means, a little compromised here and there – but handy steerer Cam Kirby praised its personality and "duality of character".

Duality of character? Yeah, it's not bad to live with, Alex Affat decided after a few months commuting to and from the Wheels Media office in a Kona N. (He named it KonaN O'Brien. Affat no longer works here.)

Is it really the last performance-focused Kona?

They say it is, mainly because they've forsworn any future petrol-powered N models, and the new 400V-based Kona Electric doesn't meet the brand's criteria for a go-hard EV that can go hard... well, not all day, but longer than an hour before needing another hour to charge. (The Ioniq 5, and its N flagship, are built on an 800V architecture.)

A hotted-up Kona Electric could happen, but it'd still be electric, and not every performance buyer wants that.

So, until we know what the 🔮 holds, you've got 26 chances to pick up a new old Kona N. (Or, you know, just buy a thrashed "one elderly owner, never tracked" one. I too like to live dangerously.)