Take that, China! From a $55K hybrid, turbos, V6s and diesels to the 2025 EV flagship knockout, the brand with the broadest seven-seat SUV strategy, using choice and value to woo buyers

“What size would you like your family SUV – Large, XL or XXL, and with petrol, diesel, hybrid, plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) or electric vehicle (EV) propulsion?”

Soon, no other car company in Australia will offer quite the combination of body styles and powertrain choices for buyers seeking an SUV or crossover with three rows of seating as Hyundai.

Come May next year, Hyundai will expand into the very exclusive seven-seater SUV electric vehicle segment with the sleek Ioniq 9, bringing single-motor rear-drive and dual-motor all-wheel drive options and using an updated iteration of the industry-leading 800-volt E-GMP architecture for faster high-speed charging capabilities.

The Ioniq 9 EV will top a range that starts with the Santa Fe large SUV from $53,000 in new 2.5-litre four-cylinder turbo petrol guise and $55,500 for the hybrid, then climbs to the larger and wider Palisade from $67,000 in big 3.8-litre V6 petrol and $71,000 2.2-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel versions.

Furthermore, both the Santa Fe and just-announced and even-larger next-generation Palisade – expected from late next year or in 2026 – are poised to adopt PHEV for Australia in the near future, adding further arrows to Hyundai’s three-row SUV bows.

Additionally, if you don’t care about looking like you’re driving a space-age van, the (albeit SUV-based) Staria can also seat the whole Brady Bunch, giving the brand yet another option for buyers.

Three (or four with Staria) different body styles and sizes, with five power choices between them and possibly six by the end of 2025 with PHEV. The one-time value brand Hyundai will offer a luxury of choice never before experienced by consumers seeking three-row SUVs in Australia.

2026 Hyundai Palisade.

So, who comes close then?

Hyundai’s in-house rival, Kia, already hits an unrivalled quadrella for power variety in this market, thanks to the handsome, large-ish Sorento that breaks some sort of record for SUVs in Australia by providing a disparate array of options – a 3.5-litre V6 petrol, the 2.2-litre turbo-diesel or a 1.6-litre four-pot turbo petrol in either hybrid and PHEV flavours.

Plus, Kia is the first and still only brand to sell a seven-seater EV SUV in Australia starting from under $100,000, in the striking shape of the EV9. A very close relative to the Ioniq 9, it beat the Hyundai to market by almost two years.

2025 Hyundai Ioniq 9.

Kia does not offer a direct challenger to the big Palisade in Australia, even though there is a related SUV that sells in massive numbers in North America right now known as the Telluride. For Australia, this means Kia’s three-row SUV body count is just two – or three, if the popular Carnival is also counted, though that is an MPV people mover like its cousin the Staria.

Conversely, Toyota hits the bullseye by importing four different SUVs into Australia with three-row seating: the Kluger hybrid large SUV, HiLux ute-derived Fortuner large 4WD SUV, the Prado large 4WD and full-sized LandCruiser 300 upper-large 4WD. All bar the Kluger are body-on-frame vehicles.

But when it comes to power choices, Australia’s long-time number-one selling carmaker really drops the ball, since the Kluger only now comes as a hybrid while the rest are diesel-only, making it four body types but only two propulsion options. And there isn’t a Toyota three-row EV SUV in sight.

2025 Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid.

Mazda, meanwhile, has recently launched the CX-80 with petrol, PHEV and diesel choices, but the larger, related CX-90 misses out on the PHEV and, like Toyota, no EV alternatives are on the horizon.

Likewise, Land Rover offers petrol, diesel and PHEV choices in select Defender 110 seven-seater and 130 seven or eight-seater grades, as well as the Range Rover Long Wheelbase in a seven-seater in diesel or petrol, but no three-row EVs as yet.

And, finally, the two bestselling three-row SUV nameplates in Australia – the Ford Everest and Isuzu MU-X – are addicted to diesel. Not even a whiff of electrification between them.

2025 Hyundai Staria.

Hyundai, then, is set to take the three-row SUV body and powertrain options gong next year, closely followed by Kia.

Aussie buyers are about to be spoilt for choice in literally a big way!