Hyundai’s Santa Cruz pickup truck is coming ‘as soon as possible,’ report says
It's been a long time coming, but the wait isn't over just yet.
Hyundai unveiled the Santa Cruz pickup truck concept at the 2015 Detroit Auto Show, and in the months and years that followed, Hyundai promised it was working on an actual production version. Now, a new report says that's still happening, but the wait isn't over yet.
Hyundai hopes to have the production Santa Cruz pickup ready "as soon as possible," Autocar reports, citing an interview with Luc Donckerwolke, Hyundai's chief design officer. Autocar estimates that the Santa Cruz will be ready by 2020.
Donckerwolke told Autocar that his team has already finished designing the production truck. Now, it's up to the automaker's other departments to get it ready for production as quickly as possible. Autocar says that Hyundai will likely share the fruits of its labors with its sister company, Kia , as well.
As wild as both Hyundai's current design language and this concept are, odds are that the production version will be toned down a fair bit. I'd expect a second set of doors, too.
If you're wondering where the heck this thing has been, you're not alone, but Hyundai has a good excuse -- it had more important cars to build. Between its push into electrification and the determination to flesh out its US-spec SUV lineup, Hyundai has had plenty of work to keep it occupied since the concept truck's debut three years ago. Most recently, the automaker unveiled an electric variant of its Kona crossover, and it will soon launch the large Telluride SUV, too.
Of course, details about the Santa Cruz are still super-light, since it's still in development. It could end up running against the serious big boys in the US like the Ford F-150 and Ram 1500 , but more likely than not, it will become something closer to a midsize pickup truck, competing with the likes of the Toyota Tacoma and the new Jeep Gladiator. Having a more compact silhouette will also increase the chance of success in truck markets outside the US, which subsists almost entirely on full-size truck sales.
Hell, maybe Hyundai will build a dump truck -- with probably at least a year until we find out concrete details, the sky's the limit for the rumor mill.
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