Hyundai Motor said Thursday its compact vehicle Kona was named the best diesel SUV model in Europe by an auto magazine in Germany.

The German publication Auto Bild conducted a comparative evaluation of four compact diesel SUVs currently sold in Europe -- Hyundai Motor’s Kona, Mazda’s CX-3, Ford’s EcoSport and Dacia’s Duster. 

The four models were assessed across seven categories of body, powertrain, driving dynamic, connectivity, environment, driving comfort and cost. Based on the evaluation, Kona scored 503 points out of a total of 750, followed by CX-3 (481), EcoSport (465) and Duster (456).

Kona was especially praised for having a spacious and versatile interior, exceptional acceleration and overtaking performance, as well as convenient advanced driver-assistance systems, the South Korean carmaker said.

The model entered the European market in October 2017 and has been steadily increasing its presence. In the first nine months of 2019, a total of 79,943 units were sold, up 53.1 percent (50,216 units) on-year.

By Cho Hyee-su (chohyeesu@heraldcorp.com)