Hyundai has been taunting us with the promise of a production-bound Santa Cruz pickup for nearly a half-decade. In 2016, the truck was reportedly greenlit to enter production in 2018 as a 2019 model. That timeline has come and gone, but we’re still anxiously awaiting the arrival of Hyundai’s unibody hauler. This week, a photo of the Santa Cruz’s body may have leaked online, and if it’s legitimate, the truck looks a lot more conventional than the concept the South Korean brand debuted at the 2015 Detroit auto show.
Posted to Instagram by user cars_secrets, the photo shows what appears to be the Santa Cruz’s fully uncovered body in production or near-production form. Unlike the concept, which featured suicide doors, the truck in this photo has four conventional doors. It doesn’t have the same dramatic body lines as the concept, and the truck’s bed looks a little longer now. We’re not surprised by the new look, as Hyundai design boss SangYup Lee told us last year that the truck’s design had changed. Lee commented the new truck has “a lot more character.” We’ll reserve our judgment until we see the final product with cladding and wheels, though.
Like the Honda Ridgeline, the Hyundai Santa Cruz will have a unibody structure. In fact, it’s expected to ride on the same platform as the next-generation Hyundai Tucson. Powertrain options remain unclear at this point, but we’re likely to get a four-cylinder gas engine rather than the original concept’s turbo-diesel 2.0-liter four-cylinder. It’s possible the truck even receives the 2.5-liter inline-four and eight-speed automatic transmission of the 2020 Sonata. Expect power to go to the front wheels, although all-wheel-drive is sure to be optionally available. The price? We suspect the truck will start somewhere around $25,000.
