Hyundai Santa Cruz: head-turner or head-scratcher?

More than six years after presenting its initial vision for a small crossover/truck combo, Hyundai has revealed the production version of the Santa Cruz – a four-door, unibody activity vehicle aimed at customers who split their time between urban driving and outdoorsy pursuits.

“The brief came from HMA (Hyundai Motor America), which had identified a customer that wasn’t going to cross-shop a closed SUV,” says Chris Chapman, senior chief designer at the Hyundai Design Center in Irvine, California. “The idea was to have an open-bed lifestyle vehicle for someone who needs a place to put dirty or smelly stuff in.”

The result is what Hyundai calls a “sport adventure vehicle” built on the same platform as the compact Tucson crossover. Compared with a traditional compact truck such as the Nissan Frontier or the Honda Ridgeline, the Santa Cruz is more than a foot shorter and sits at least three inches lower. “I wanted to ensure that this thing could hold its own next to one of these giant pickup trucks,” Chapman explains during an exclusive interview with Car Design News. “You ever tried to push a bulldog? It’s like, ‘I may be a small dog, but I’ll kick your ass.’”

Brad Arnold, design manager for the Santa Cruz programme adds, “With this vehicle, we wanted to make sure proportion-wise it looked like something you’ve never seen before. It’s not really a truck or an SUV. The main thing was emphasizing and letting the design speak to this duality. It starts off with an identity crisis, so let’s lean into it and be brave and not apologise.”

Of course, the idea of half-car, half-truck isn’t new. Subaru sold the BRAT (known as the 284 in the UK) from 1978 to 1994. In the 2000s, Holden introduced the Ute, also known as the Chevrolet Lumina and Pontiac G8 Sport Truck. But these lacked the inherent ruggedness and higher seating position of a CUV. Hyundai’s idea for a crossover-based truck was shown in concept form back in 2015 at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, but much has changed since then.

The basic silhouette remains the same, and Chapman says a lot of the sectioning was inspired by the show car. However, the production version has four doors instead of two and gains Hyundai’s new face with its “cascade” grille and hidden DRLs, while the rear gets horizontal, T-shaped tail lamps that accentuate and define the open bed. The new Santa Cruz also swaps the sleeker look of the concept for more aggressive, even brutal, surfacing. Along with the new Tucson, it employs muscular volumes and sharp edges that draw praise for “boldness” as well as criticism for what some see as disjointed and disrupted forms, especially on the bodyside. But designers aren’t fazed by mixed reviews.

“The products of ours that end up selling the best are the ones that are the most polarising,” Arnold says. “Maybe some [former Hyundai designs] didn’t age so well, but at the time that got us a lot of market share. And it got people out of their habit of buying a Camry or Accord. Personally, I would rather have a 50-50 love/hate ratio because at least then it feels like we’re pushing for something different.”

The Santa Cruz is the first vehicle completely designed from beginning to end at Hyundai’s California studio. Chapman and his team report to Simon Loasby, Hyundai’s head of Hyundai styling since April 2019 (and widely known as one of the more affable designers in the business). “Simon is really supportive of us in this studio,” Chapman says. “The attitude is like, shock me, surprise me, push me. If you do something that’s super ugly but it’s got potential, that has a chance of living more at Hyundai than it does if you’re going to come in with something you’ve seen before or something that’s pretty but not moving anything. I’d rather be part of that.”

Chapman says the team spent a lot of time debating on the bed length to strike the right balance between utility and compactness. Although the concept featured an expandable bed, the production version ended up as a fixed element that measures four feet long. Otherwise, designers were surprisingly unified on the project. “This design story was one without the arguments or the fights,” Chapman tells us. “The theme we ended up making was the one I knew we’d do from the beginning, but the rear end came off a different proposal; it sat nicely on its wheels, so we ended up massaging it together and there were no feelings hurt.”

Speaking of those wheels, the Santa Cruz we saw was fitted with a 20-inch option, but Chapman and Arnold both say they like the smaller, 18-inch wheel better. “It communicates you’re ready for the trail and you have more rubber,” Chapman says. (Design students take note: bigger wheels aren’t always better.) Exterior paint colours include what Arnold describes as “de-saturated and drab, things that look adventure-ready such as tans and greens.” The interior design is nearly identical to the new Tucson, and although Chapman says he was initially concerned about doing a carryover, he says the more traditional, human-centric cabin creates a nice contrast against the bolder exterior aesthetic.

The 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz will be offered in two ICE variants, equipped with either a 190bhp, 2.5-litre inline four-cylinder engine with an eight-speed automatic transmission, or a 275bhp, 2.5-litre turbocharged engine with eight-speed dual clutch transmission. Towing capacities for each model are rated at 3,500lbs and 5,000lbs respectively. Right now, the vehicle is slated only for the US market and is expected to hit dealerships this summer.

Hyundai has been on somewhat of a role of late. The company has unveiled a swarm of production and concept cars, including the Staria MPV, Ioniq 5 and the Bayon.