When Hyundai unveiled the Santa Cruz concept back in 2015 at the Detroit Motor Show, the automotive world went a little wild with speculation, positing that a South Korean assault on the Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger was imminent.
It was a slick two-door pickup that seemed to trade looks and ‘lifestyle’ oriented features for outright practicality and workhorse-ability, but that would have been ironed out on the road to production. But that never actually happened, and in the many months that followed Hyundai seemed to have abandoned the trail it had blazed back in Motor City.
Now, for whatever reason, Hyundai is back on the wagon, with Reuters reporting that the company’s top management have given the green light to develop a new model similar to the Santa Cruz to compete with more casual pick-ups sold in the United States such as the Honda Ridgeline, at least in some variants, while satisfying the more traditional medium ‘truck’ buyers who would consider others like the Ford F-150 Toyota Tacoma and Nissan Frontier (which is a Navara to us).
Hyundai U.S’ vice president of corporate and product planning told the newswire that this move is a part of broader roadmap to adapt to a market that is shifting away from sedans as one of the brand’s important markets. It doesn’t currently offer a pickup in North America, or any other market, and a possible timeline for this could come after the launch of the Kona compact SUV later in 2017, another new model that Hyundai hopes to do well there.
Dealers both globally but within the United States in particular have pushed for a more aggressive model lineup of SUVs and trucks as demand for sedans and hatchbacks have been on a steady decline with past top sellers like their Sonata and Elantra have ceded ground to the Santa Fe and Tucson.
“We are optimistic about the future," Scott Fink, chief executive of Hyundai of New Port Richey, Florida, which is Hyundai's biggest U.S. dealer, said to Reuters. "But we are disappointed that we don't have the products today.”
When the Santa Cruz concept was first revealed, it housed a 2.0-litre turbodiesel that supposedly generated 142kW and 407Nm that sent drive to all four corners. Given that most of its would-be competitors in North America are generally powered by larger capacity petrol engines as well as the damaged regard that diesel engines face there now, Hyundai might end up including their 3.3-litre V6 in the production version’s spec.
In other regions, such as Asia and Australasia, the prospect of a Hyundai-branded pickup looks promising as these types of vehicle does do quite well relative to the rising SUV and crossover unit numbers. Besides, they are markets that both Hyundai and sister company Kia have strong footholds.
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