I'm thinking the Santa Cruz is probably the smallest truck Americans will buy, plus murica has a much higher standard for acceptable acceleration, and the truly tiny Ram 700 makes like 85hp with the base engine or if you're feeling really wild a upgraded 110hp monster turbocharged option, lol! This is in a market where you can buy a 2021 Ram 1500 TRX Mammoth with 1000hp, because apparently 700hp for the regular TRX just wasn't enough for some red blooded Americans.
The pickup market in north america seems to cater to the most traditionalist consumers out there, so I think that's why Hyundai is repeating a lot that the Santa Cruz is not a pickup as I think they know most pickup shoppers wouldn't even consider it, whereas crossover shoppers like me that were looking at a Tucson will think "oooh, cool, that bed and extra tow capacity could be practical"!