Shame, because it looks like a solid winner.
Korean marque Hyundai have taken the opportunity to reveal their new flagship SUV, the Palisade, at the ongoing Los Angeles motorshow, which is in the US. The Palisade is a gargantuan machine, designed to take on the likes of the Volkswagen Atlas, Lincoln Aviator, and Toyota Highlander, of which only the Highlander is available here on our shores (as a Kluger).
The Palisade is left-hook only, so stop looking up local Hyundai dealers to put a booking down (besides, the best new car deals exist right here). The North American mid-size SUV space is dominated, largely, by American marques, with Toyota being the sole exception. Even Volkswagen’s attempt to ruffle some feathers with the Atlas fell short, with buyers knocking on its lack of cabin quality and underwhelming ‘Tiguan XXL’ styling.
Hyundai saw the missteps VW took and navigated smartly around that. The Palisade is boldly styled, with its dual-tier lights, enormous cascading grille, distinctive window garnish (that notably dives back into the belt line after the rear doors) and small, vertical taillights. While it might not be the most bold thing in the segment, it’s certainly distinctive, and that’s something North American buyers like quite a bit.
Inside, the cabin is covered in premium Nappa leather, and is home to smarts like a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, a large 10.25-inch MMI system (with smartphone mirroring), a heads-up display right in the sightline of the driver, wireless smartphone charging, and even an Infinity audio system. The smarts extend to safety kit too, with forward collision warning, AEB, blind-spot monitoring, lane-change assist, adaptive cruise control with traffic jam functionality, rear cross-traffic alert, driver-drowsiness monitoring, and high-beam assist.
Power for the Palisade comes from a 3.8-litre naturally-aspirated V6 petrol engine, producing a solid 217kW and 355Nm, with power going to either the rear or all-four wheels via an 8-speed automatic gearbox. Again, it’s a shame that the Palisade was envisioned from the outset as a left-hook vehicle only because, we reckon, it’d have sold healthily and steadily here.
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