Hyundai Santa Cruz Pickup Truck Concept Will Make It To Production Soon

Production Hyundai Santa Cruz Pickup Rendered

Hyundai pickup truck concept called ‘Santa Cruz’ was first showcased at the North American International Auto Show back in 2015

Hyundai is all ready to get its hands dirty, with the Santa Cruz pickup truck concept, production of which will begin in 2021. Earlier this week, the Korean carmaker confirmed that the Santa Cruz will be coming to the United States, and will be built at its Montgomery assembly plant.

Byungjin Jin, President and CEO of Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama, said in a statement, “Bringing the Santa Cruz to HMMA demonstrates that Hyundai Motor Company is confident our more than 3,000 Team Members are ready to build a quality crossover for the U.S. market.”

Even though Hyundai earlier unveiled the Santa Cruz concept at the 2015 Detroit Motor Show, there is no news about how the production-ready pickup truck will look like. However, it will certainly be different than the concept, the manufacturer confirmed. The Santa Cruz truck could share its underpinnings with the Santa Fe crossover SUV, since the latter is also built at Hyundai’s Montgomery plant.

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SangYup Lee, head of the Hyundai Global Design Center in Namyang, Korea said that each Hyundai car’s design will have a distinctive and unique look, which will complement its character. The Santa Cruz pickup truck will be sporting a ladder-on-frame chassis, and Kia will also be sharing the development cost.

The concept showcased in Detroit back in 2015 had a four-cylinder 2.0-litre turbo diesel engine that churned out 190 HP of max power and 406 Nm of peak torque and also featured an all-wheel-drive configuration. The pickup truck might also be offered with a few different cab formats.

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Upon launch in 2021, the Santa Cruz midsize pickup truck will be Hyundai’s first pickup truck offering for the United States market, and it will take on the likes of other small pickup trucks including Ford Ranger and the Jeep Gladiator.

Meanwhile, we could end up seeing a few more new entrants in the segment being launched next year, including Volkswagen’s Tarok concept, which was unveiled earlier this year.