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At time of writing it wasn’t confirmed officially but sources inside Hyundai’s Australian retail network have assured CarsGuide this sub-Ford Ranger-sized front- and all-wheel drive ute will be on sale in Australia by 2026.
Based on the Tucson SUV, the four-door, five-seat Santa Cruz is powered by a 2.5-litre, four-cylinder petrol engine matched with an eight-speed auto.
The line-up currently starts at for the and ranges through to for the range-topping .
Check out real-world situations relating to the Hyundai Santa Cruz here, particularly what our experts have to say about them.
The Santa Cruz not only has an integrated tub, it’s also a monocoque design rather than a separate body on a ladder-style chassis as many commercial vehicles are. But it would, in Australia, still be classified as a light commercial vehicle. According to the Federal Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development, light commercial vehicles are: '…motor vehicles constructed to carry goods or specialised equipment that are less than or equal to 3.5 tonnes gross vehicle mass. They include utility vehicles, panel vans, cab chassis vehicles and goods vans.' And that pretty neatly describes the Santa Cruz utility.
There has been a lot of talk about the Hyundai tray-back making it to Australia, but a couple of things are standing in the way. The volume models, for a start, are front-wheel-drive and the construction rules out the huge towing limit of something like a Toyota HiLux or Ford Ranger (3.5 tonnes). But there’s plenty to suggest that the Santa Cruz would be a nicer thing to drive than a conventional dual-cab ute and, for those who don’t need to tow super-heavy loads, the Hyundai might make a bit of sense. But don’t hold your breath on it coming here. For now, Hyundai is saying no to an Australian launch, purely because the Santa Cruz is not being built in right-hand-drive form.
