Hyundai’s head designer stated that every model would have a unique look.
It takes time to get a concept car into production. Just look at the Jeep Gladiator and Corvette mid-engines. The Hyundai Santa Cruz pickup is another highly-anticipated concept, which was first shown in Detroit in 2015.
The small pickup was initially planned to be released last year as a 2019 model. However, Hyundai made some changes. Priorities had been changed by a sales slump and the removal of CEO Dave Zuchowski.
The Santa Cruz’s initial display featured a corporate design that mirrored the Hyundais. According to SangYup Lee (head of Hyundai’s Global Design Center, Namyang, Korea), this is about to change. ” No more Russian dolls He says. He wants every Hyundai vehicle to be unique, prompting curious people to look before they discover it’s Hyundai.
This is a bold strategy but it’s smart for Hyundai. Hyundai has been building better and more efficient cars every year since its bargain-basement days.
Although the Santa Cruz will still be on the streets sometime in the future we can expect it to look very different from what we saw in Detroit four years ago, we are not sure when. In an interview with Motor Trend, Lee stated that while the basic design of the compact unibody pickup truck is likely to remain, the overall design will be “a lot different” and “have a lot greater character.”
This may be the first time that a production vehicle has been compared to the one before it. We are excited to see small pickup trucks returning to the US, regardless of how they look.