Two years after green lighting it for production (and a further four when it was first announced as a concept), the production Hyundai Santa Cruz pickup finally has a global reveal date: April 15.
Leading up to the full reveal, Hyundai released the sketches of the Santa Cruz. Though it features a cargo bed, Hyundai doesn’t want to call the Santa Cruz a pickup truck; instead, they want you to call it a Sport Adventure Vehicle.
No doubt, this gives everyone a hint as to its positioning. Instead of going against the likes of the Ford Ranger or Chevrolet Colorado in terms of hauling or payload, they’re positioning this as a lifestyle-oriented vehicle. With that, Hyundai is taking a page off the Honda Ridgeline, developing the Santa Cruz out of a unibody platform—in this case, the Santa Fe SUV.
Regardless, Hyundai promises “a flexible open bed for gear, cutting-edge connectivity, and a highly maneuverable all-wheel drive platform that is at home in urban and adventure-focused environments.”
Although it shares the Tucson’s parametric dynamics design (down to the hidden headlamp motif) expect it to share the Santa Fe’s powertrain line-up. It’ll probably get both the normally-aspirated and turbocharged versions of Hyundai’s 2.5-liter engines mated to an 8-speed automatic.
So far, the Hyundai Santa Fe has only been confirmed for the U.S. market, where it will join the likes of the Honda Ridgeline and the upcoming Ford Maverick.
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