Hyundai ute shapes up

[FTE217]

Renders are just that and most times look better than what ends up in the showroom but that not a bad template.

[Poetic Justice]

The Santa Cruz lifestyle ute has been unveiled in the states.

https://www.caradvice.com.au/944722/...nch-ruled-out/

Not for Australia, although neither was the Palisade so I hold hope.

Obviously not a real ute competitor to the big players but any suits out there that think this won't sell reasonably well in Australia probably needs to rethink his career.

[lra]

The Yanks have discovered UTES, (rather than pick-ups) ..... and it looks like Australia misses out again.
The published specs do not indicate a small vehicle.
One of my cars is an AWD V6 Holden Crewman, (not a really a small ute) and this Santa Cruz is only 350mm shorter, on a 100mm shorter wheelbase, and a 300mm shorter tray.
Why would it not work in Australia ? Only Hyundai can explain that. Not everyone needs a Ranger / Hilux / D-Max type pick-up.

[Big_Daz]

Originally Posted by Poetic Justice

The Santa Cruz lifestyle ute has been unveiled in the states.

https://www.caradvice.com.au/944722/...nch-ruled-out/

Not for Australia, although neither was the Palisade so I hold hope.

Obviously not a real ute competitor to the big players but any suits out there that think this won't sell reasonably well in Australia probably needs to rethink his career.

Reading the article, it looks like this is only being built in the USA in LHD with no RHD plans (at this stage).

We get the Pallisade here because its made both in the USA (LHD) and Asia (RHD) so we can source ours from the Asian plant. Like the Kia Telluride (Pallisade's Kia Twin) the Yank's wont make them RHD for us.

Hopefully at some stage Hyundai (or Kia for that matter) build a Ranger competitor and put the 205kw turbo 4 in it for our market...

[Bossxr8]

Is it just me or does the tray look worthless for anything bar a few boxes? Wouldn't an SUV hold more in it?

I know it's only a light duty thing just to cart small loads around in, which will suit some people, but you would think they would have made the tray a bit bigger so it's more usable. This is one area the Maverick has an advantage, as it's tray looks a fair bit bigger. Will have to check the dimensions to be sure though. Maybe it's actually bigger than it appears?

As to whether it would sell here, it would probably do ok. But ok won't be enough to justify the cost of making it in RHD. The numbers probably wouldn't add up. Same goes for the Maverick. The US has market size to justify it, we don't. Which is a bit of a shame as these 2 are probably the closest you could get to a Falcon/Commodore ute ie. mono construction based on a passenger vehicle with petrol engines.

[Raptor]

Now that it has been released this thread needs more pics.

These liberated from here: https://www.caradvice.com.au/944722/...nch-ruled-out/





With a few more from here; https://testmiles.com/2022-hyundai-s...uz-first-look/





I'd like to see it released here. I sure as hell don't want any of the existing dual-cab offerings. But this could be ideal, but still hard to gauge how big/small it really is.

[Tassie f100]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

Is it just me or does the tray look worthless for anything bar a few boxes? Wouldn't an SUV hold more in it?

I know it's only a light duty thing just to cart small loads around in, which will suit some people, but you would think they would have made the tray a bit bigger so it's more usable. This is one area the Maverick has an advantage, as it's tray looks a fair bit bigger. Will have to check the dimensions to be sure though. Maybe it's actually bigger than it appears?

As to whether it would sell here, it would probably do ok. But ok won't be enough to justify the cost of making it in RHD. The numbers probably wouldn't add up. Same goes for the Maverick. The US has market size to justify it, we don't. Which is a bit of a shame as these 2 are probably the closest you could get to a Falcon/Commodore ute ie. mono construction based on a passenger vehicle with petrol engines.

Most twin cab ute tubs are too short to be of much use really,so I guess shorter by another 20-30 cms doesn’t matter,although the tray seems to go under the window ledge,so maybe it is a similiar length to the others

[XR Martin]

Reminds me of a modern version of that super successful twin cab Subaru Outback that the US had a while back.

[BENT_8]

Article says the tray is 1320mm long so that close to 4.5ft and the vehicle is 1900mm wide so you'd expect the tray to be 1500 wide.

[PooDog]

And another 500mm when you drop the tailgate

[jpd80]

Hyundai Cruz is actually next size down, a Compact pickup and will compete with the
Maverick in America. Whatever Hyundai has planned for Australia will be very different.