I’d put money on a replacement – likely Ioniq 3, their version of the EV3, appearing in 2026. It probably won’t have a small battery version to start with, given the EV 3 is 58 or 81kw, so they will continue to offer the Kona as a low cost entry model before ending production as an EV entirely.
In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.