Hyundai has recently unveiled its first-ever pickup truck, the Santa Cruz, in a near-production avatar. The brand has called it a Sport-Adventure Vehicle, which is developing a new spot within the SUV, Truck, and Crossover segments. It was first previewed as a concept model six years back at the 2015 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS). It is likely to be launched in the coming month and America will be the first country to witness its launch. Hyundai’s Montgomery, Alabama-based production facility will be the manufacturing hub for this pickup. While there is still some time in its launch, here are five things you should know about the 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz pickup truck: –
1. 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz – Design
The all-new Hyundai Santa Cruz looks similar to the 4th-generation Tuscon SUV from the front, featuring the Hyundai's latest 'Parametric Hidden Lights' design. Its front grille consists of a jewel-like pattern that seamlessly integrates the LED DRLs. These DRL units look like the part of the cascading grille and are unnoticeable when they are not in operations.
The side profile of the pickup truck looks quite clean yet sporty thanks to its 20-inch alloy wheels and aggressively racked A-&-C pillars. Head to the rear and you will see horizontal ''T''-shaped/hammer-shaped split LED tail lights on the tailgate of the functional open bed and a bold SANTA CRUZ lettering in the center. This functional rear open bed area (1229mm in length) features secure, lockable in-bed storage, integrated corner bumper steps, and a lockable tonneau cover, seamlessly integrated with the overall design. Hyundai claims the bed has a payload capacity of up to around 640kg.
The 2021 Hyundai Santa Cruz will be available in four variants – SE, SEL, SEL Premium, and Limited.
2. Dimensions And Refined Chassis Tuning
Length | 195.7 inch |
Width | 75.0 inch |
Height | 66.7 inch |
Wheelbase | 118.3 inch |
Bed Length | Upper 48.4 inch Lower 52.1 inch |
Footprint Area | 101.9 sq. ft |
The Santa Cruz is a capable off-roader. It was developed with a focus on enhanced driving dynamics and responsive performance for a wide variety of urban and off-road, multi-surface driving conditions. The shorter wheelbase, short overhangs, and wide track help it staying planted, which results in extraordinary agility in urban environments and off-road terrain. While the 20-inch alloy wheels with wide, all-season, all-terrain tires give it an agile handling character on a variety of road surfaces, the optional 18-inch wheels with more voluminous tire sidewalls are better for off-road adventures.
3. Interior & Features
The interior of this Korean pickup is quite sophisticated and continues to borrow similarities with the 4th-gen Tucson. It features an enveloping dual-cockpit design that mainly focuses on ergonomic comfort on long drives along with the ease of ingress & egress. Similar to the all-new Tucson, it also gets an edgeless 10-inch infotainment screen taking the center stage. It also gets an optional 10-inch center digital cluster display.
Completing the premium ambiance, it gets a host of advanced techs & features such as Bose premium sound system, paddle shifters, auto climate control, heated & ventilated front seats, sunroof, rear under-seat storage, electric parking brakes with auto-hold function, wireless Apple Carplay & Android Auto smartphone connectivity, and BlueLink connected car technology with smart features like remote start, remote climate control function, voice-controlled navigation, stolen vehicle recovery, and remote door lock/unlock. Hyundai claims that some of these connectivity features can also be controlled via Android Wear and Apple Watch apps.
4. ADAS On Offer
The 2022 Santa Cruz also gets Hyundai's SmartSense Safety suite, which comprises a bunch of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). These include forward collision detection, adaptive cruise control, blind-spot collision detection, highway driving assist, blind-spot monitoring, lane-keeping assist, and driver attention warning.
5. What powers the 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz?
The Santa Cruz will be available with two petrol engines – 2.5-litre naturally aspirated (190PS+/244Nm) and 2.5-liter turbocharged units (275PS+/420Nm). While the former comes paired with an 8-speed torque converter automatic, the latter is coupled with an 8-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission (DCT) with paddle shifters on the steering wheel. Both powertrains come with Hyundai’s HTRAC all-wheel drive. This system has a wide range of torque distribution variability, tuned for conditions such as straight-line acceleration, medium- and high-speed cornering, and hill starts.
The brand hasn't offered any hybrid powertrain as of now.
