Hyundai Prepares Rugged Pickup For Australia

"It's not 100 percent signed off, it's in development and it's at a certain stage and it has been well received but it's not 100 percent go yet," Bill Thomas, Hyundai's public relations boss, in Australia told CarAdvice about the pickup. Assuming the model gets a green light, production would start in 2021.

Hyundai researched the pickup market and found that what worked in the U.S wasn't necessarily right for a market like Australia. The production version of the Santa Cruz will sacrifice some overall utility for being a more stylish truck. Meanwhile the model for the rest of the world would be a more direct competitor against brawny models like the Toyota Hilux.

Hyundai overall design boss Peter Schreyer told CarAdvice that a Kia variant of the truck wasn't on the way.

On the other side of the Pacific, the road-going version of the Santa Cruz concept already has a green light to go on sale. It would reportedly share a platform with the next-gen Tucson, and the truck's production would start in 2021. Hyundai would likely build them both at its Alabama factory.

Powertrain details about the American are still sketchy, but rumors suggest the Hyundai's 3.3-liter biturbo V6 might be among the powertrain options. This powerplant would be quite potent in a midsize pickup, since the mill produces 365 horsepower (272 kilowatts) and 376 pound-feet (510 Newton-meters) in the Genesis G70.