Hyundai has been working on the Santa Cruz for a while now, a relatively compact pick-up that actually most resembles an SUV with a cargo box on the back. The Santa Cruz is now a bit tighter than before, but will probably show itself in its entirety soon.
More than six years ago, Hyundai pulled the curtain on the Santa Cruz Crossover Truck Concept. A study model with quite a long name, but that was actually understandable. That concept car was not easy to capture. From the front bumper to the halfway point you can see a crossover or an SUV in it, but then something remarkable happens. Behind the rear doors, the roof suddenly slants and a cargo box follows. The total picture is a pick-up that is not as straightforwardly designed as you are used to.
In the end, it took another five years before a camouflaged car suddenly appeared that looked a lot like it. Last summer, newer spy photos confirmed the suspicion. Although in the images that we now have in front of us, the car has been packaged a bit more firmly, it remains clearly visible that Hyundai remains quite faithful to the, for a pick-up, quite unconventional lines.
Hyundai Santa Cruz
The earlier espionage photos somewhat showed that the Santa Cruz is getting a nose reminiscent of that of its near-namesake, the Santa Fe. This, together with the fact that the Santa Cruz is on the production schedule in the American state of Alabama, where the Santa Fe is also being built, makes it plausible that it is also technically related to it. In that case we can expect 2.0-liter to 2.5-liter four-cylinder, but possibly also a 3.5-liter V6. Most interesting, however, is the hybrid powertrain that we know here from the Santa Fe with the 1.6 T-GDI, which is assisted by an electric motor. This means that the Santa Cruz can also be interesting here, even though the market for pick-ups in the Netherlands is relatively small.
The introduction of the Santa Cruz was planned for the beginning of this year, but perhaps this has been postponed slightly due to the crisis. After all, he is still firmly camouflaged. Nevertheless, we are committed to unveiling the Santa Cruz by next summer at the latest.