Is It A Bad Thing That The Hyundai Santa Cruz Pickup Won’t Look Like This Santa Fe-Inspired Render?

The forthcoming Hyundai Santa Cruz pickup is one of the brand’s most eagerly-awaited vehicles and these renderings show us how it could look with Santa Fe-inspired styling.

These renderings come from KDesign AG and depict the pickup as rocking largely the same front fascia as the Santa Fe. As such, there’s a large chrome grille and split headlights with T-shaped LED daytime running lights. It is a similar story at the rear where the taillights of the most recent Santa Fe have been grafted onto the pickup.

While we think the Santa Cruz looks quite nice with these Santa Fe fascias, we do not expect the production model to look like this. In fact, it is expected to adopt the sharper Parametric Design philosophy of the latest-generation Hyundai Elantra and Tucson. That will likely mean a distinctive grille and angular taillights, as our own rendering of the Santa Cruz depicts.

Beyond its looks, we know that the pickup will use the same unibody platform and components as the Santa Fe. We, therefore, expect to similar payload and towing capacities to the Honda Ridgeline and will likely see features including a digital instrument cluster, wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, and lots of safety tech.

Powertrain details remain a mystery but again, could be shared with the Santa Fe. That may include a 2.4-liter engine with 185 hp and 178 lb-ft (241 Nm) of torque and a turbocharged 2.0-liter rated at 235 hp and 260 lb-ft (352 Nm).

The 2021 Hyundai Santa Cruz will be unveiled this year.