April 25, 2018

Hyundai's First-Ever Pickup Truck is On Track


Hyundai has confirmed that a pick-up truck is still on a table after showing off the Santa Cruz Concept at the 2015 North American International Auto Show. However, a report by Motor Trend says that the production model will somewhat differ from the concept truck that took the world by surprise 3 years ago.

It must be remembered that the Santa Cruz Concept was a two-seater, two-door pick-up truck. But now, the website reports that with the Tucson compact SUV due for a full-model change (including a shift to a brand-new platform), Hyundai is using this opportunity to engineer it with a “four-door, five-seater” pickup truck in mind.

The report adds that the Santa Cruz won’t be going after workhorses, but instead will focus on buyers who want “a car-like ride and fuel efficiency, but like the added utility of having a pick-up bed.” Thus, the Santa Cruz will have a unibody platform and likely a modestly-sized gasoline engine.

Hyundai says they’re confident of moving between 50,000-70,000 units of the production Santa Cruz despite the fact that the Honda Ridgeline, its only main competitor, sees sales down 30 percent so far in 2018.

With the Korean brand undergoing an extensive product refresh, Hyundai says that the Santa Cruz may not see showrooms until 2020 at the earliest.

Source: Motor Trend

6 comments:

  1. HyunDIE in the mountains while carrying your goods

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    Replies
    1. Here goes another guy who still lives in the 80's!

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    2. Hyundai is poor quality. Just look at their starex. 10 years ago the starex started competing with the Toyota Grandia in the lucrative Sagada /Banawe Tourist service market. They were everywhere. 10 years later, not a single Hyundai starex is plying the Banawe/Sagada tourist route and if you ask the drivers, why the hyudai starex disappeared, they said the hyundai has a strong engine but they dont last long specially when the are full pack travelling everyday in the mountains of cordillera. So people went back to Toyota Grandias and Nissan Urvans.

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  2. Think it over well! The concept of a two door 4 seater or a 4 door 5 seater is fine, the crucial point is the engine! Would it be a turbo charge diesel or a gasoline! I can not pre empt the market choice , but thechouce of the engine either makes it or break it

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  3. Looks awesome but if it's a car based pickup like the Ridgeline it is not going to sell well. Probably will be too expensive since it will be built in the U.S.

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  4. Pickup Truck Category

    Toyota Hilux
    Mitsubishi Strada/L200
    Chevrolet Colorado
    Isuzu D-Max
    Honda Ridgeline
    Ford Ranger
    Nissan Navarra/Frontier
    Volkswagen Amarok
    Mercedes X-Class
    Foton Thunder
    Tata Xenon

    ReplyDelete

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