It has been more than six years from the unveiling of the Hyundai Santa Cruz Crossover Truck concept, and it has since been discovered in prototype form to have adopted the more passenger-friendly double-cab layout instead of the concept’s extended-cab body, and now Hyundai has revealed April 15 as the date for its digital world premiere.
Its design language has evolved since the concept’s first showing at the 2015 Detroit Motor Show, shown here with a front end that blends its headlamps into the grille, as well as swapping its curvaceous surfaces for sharp crease lines, as on the Elantra.
Hyundai calls the Santa Cruz a ‘sport adventure vehicle’, one that blends the cargo-carrying flexibility of a pick-up truck’s bed with closed-cabin security, says Hyundai. Exact details of how that works should be revealed at the truck’s debut, though the initial description recalls the Honda Ridgeline‘s In-Bed Trunk that offers a lockable storage space beneath the cargo tray.
Earlier spy images also show the Santa Cruz prototype to be configured with independent rear suspension, which is in line with the unibody construction used in the original concept. This will also mean the Santa Cruz will have more in common with the Santa Fe compared to a traditional body-on-frame pick-up truck, and so is likely to draw from the SUV’s powertrain selection as well.
The Santa Fe engine range included a 2.4 litre petrol unit producing 185 hp, and a 2.0 litre turbocharged engine with 238 hp, along with a 2.2 litre R CRDi turbodiesel with 193 hp and 440 Nm of torque that is the more suited choice for load-lugging applications for pick-up trucks such as the Santa Cruz.
The Hyundai Santa Cruz will be produced at the automaker’s facility in Montgomery, Alabama beginning in the northern hemisphere summer, and likely to go on sale shortly thereafter. So far, the Santa Cruz appears to be a North America-centric product, though given the choice, would you like to see this in our local market, dear readers?
GALLERY: Hyundai Santa Cruz spyshots
-
- Spy-Shots of Cars This image has been optimized for a calibrated screen with a Gamma of 2.2 and a colour temperature of 6500°K
-
- Spy-Shots of Cars This image has been optimized for a calibrated screen with a Gamma of 2.2 and a colour temperature of 6500°K
-
- Spy-Shots of Cars This image has been optimized for a calibrated screen with a Gamma of 2.2 and a colour temperature of 6500°K
-
- Spy-Shots of Cars This image has been optimized for a calibrated screen with a Gamma of 2.2 and a colour temperature of 6500°K
-
- Spy-Shots of Cars This image has been optimized for a calibrated screen with a Gamma of 2.2 and a colour temperature of 6500°K
-
- Spy-Shots of Cars This image has been optimized for a calibrated screen with a Gamma of 2.2 and a colour temperature of 6500°K
-
- Spy-Shots of Cars This image has been optimized for a calibrated screen with a Gamma of 2.2 and a colour temperature of 6500°K
-
- Spy-Shots of Cars This image has been optimized for a calibrated screen with a Gamma of 2.2 and a colour temperature of 6500°K
-
- Spy-Shots of Cars This image has been optimized for a calibrated screen with a Gamma of 2.2 and a colour temperature of 6500°K
-
- Spy-Shots of Cars This image has been optimized for a calibrated screen with a Gamma of 2.2 and a colour temperature of 6500°K
-
- Spy-Shots of Cars This image has been optimized for a calibrated screen with a Gamma of 2.2 and a colour temperature of 6500°K
-
- Spy-Shots of Cars This image has been optimized for a calibrated screen with a Gamma of 2.2 and a colour temperature of 6500°K
-
- Spy-Shots of Cars This image has been optimized for a calibrated screen with a Gamma of 2.2 and a colour temperature of 6500°K
-
- Spy-Shots of Cars This image has been optimized for a calibrated screen with a Gamma of 2.2 and a colour temperature of 6500°K
-
- Spy-Shots of Cars This image has been optimized for a calibrated screen with a Gamma of 2.2 and a colour temperature of 6500°K
-
- Spy-Shots of Cars This image has been optimized for a calibrated screen with a Gamma of 2.2 and a colour temperature of 6500°K
-
- Spy-Shots of Cars This image has been optimized for a calibrated screen with a Gamma of 2.2 and a colour temperature of 6500°K
-
- Spy-Shots of Cars This image has been optimized for a calibrated screen with a Gamma of 2.2 and a colour temperature of 6500°K
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.
