[Hyundai Santa Cruz News]

We’re still waiting for the final confirmation from Hyundai on whether the Santa Cruz will go into production or not and a quote from Dave Zuchowski was the last statement from a Hyundai representative, until now.

Back in January, Zuchowski said that they’re “trying to figure out when we're going to announce it” more than the actual approval. Well, we may have something from Hyundai Australia. On a Behind the Wheel podcast earlier last month, Hyundai Australia’s PR chief, Bill Thomas, hinted that the Santa Cruz “might even be in the works”.

He didn’t specifically name the Santa Cruz but it was indicated that the resulting vehicle will be an ute and so far the most likely nameplate is the Cruz which was revealed at last year’s Detroit Auto Show.

“Our Australian engineers and product experts have been talking to our parent company about the ute and have been putting together some pretty detailed suggestions on what that vehicle needs to be. So it’s really a case of watch this space, but I can assure you that our mother company knows exactly what that vehicle needs to do to be able to beat the likes of the Toyota HiLux.”

If this is true and they’re using the 2016 HiLux as a benchmark, we could be seeing a Hyundai ute with an output greater than 150hp (based on the 148bhp 2.4-litre D-4D global HiLux engine) and 295 lb ft (400Nm) of torque.

Hopefully, either Thomas or Hyundai’s parent company will release an official statement soon.

 

[Santa]

We just need to at least see a production model so we know that there's a chance for the Santa Cruz to go on sale. Right now we haven't heard much of anything for so long that I think the project was pushed to a corner, never to be seen again.

 

[Mr.Claus]

I think it'll reach light, but not anytime soon at all. Maybe 2025 but at that point, it'll be irrelevant as I'm sure we'll have many other players in the market. I think they really made a poor choice kicking this to the curb.

 

[Santa]

Yup, the ute pickup market isn't too saturated so they could have scooped up a large portion of buyers but since they're waiting so long, people will move on.

 

[Santana]

Yup, the ute pickup market isn't too saturated so they could have scooped up a large portion of buyers but since they're waiting so long, people will move on.

Only way to know now is to launch the product and see where that goes since one thing we know for sure is the Truck market overall is picking up.

 

[Mr.Claus]

Wellp, they definitely won't be seeing anything about this product considering how far they're pushing it off for.

 

[mga1inac]

2019 Model Year Confirmed!!

2019 model year confirmed this week! See link: 2019 Hyundai Santa Cruz Pickup Almost Ready

 

[Mr.Claus]

I was gonna post that too ! I'm hoping this isn't gonna end up as a "yea, its happening" and then "2 year delay"

 

[Santana]

Quite a way to go and that has me thinking that there's even a chance it might not happen at all. Anything can happen from now till then, good enough time to call the whole project off.

 

[Mr.Claus]

More than enough time to call it off unfortunately. Especially with the way they've been going, it's actually very possible that they'll cancel it as well