- The facelifted Hyundai Santa Fe is slowly losing its disguise.
- Model sports updated front and rear ends as well as new lights.
- Could have new infotainment system and range-extended powertrain.
Through the first five months of the year, the Hyundai Santa Fe has emerged as the brand’s third best-selling model in America. It’s narrowly beating the redesigned Palisade and an upcoming facelift could help to supercharge sales.
Spy photographers have snapped the model on numerous occasions, but the camouflage is slowly starting to come off. In the case of the latest prototype, it no longer has a black cloth covering the front end.
More: Hyundai Thinks Outside The Box For 2027 Santa Fe
Thanks to this change, we can get a better glimpse of the crossover’s new face. It adopts mid-mounted headlights, which eschew the “H” daytime running light graphics found on the current model. Instead, the DRLs have been reimagined as a vertical bar at the outside edges.
Additional changes are hard to make out, but it appears the three-row crossover will have a taller grille. We can also see familiar air intakes and a more curvaceous bumper.
The profile remains as boxy as ever and it’s joined by geometric wheels as well as a revised rear end. The latter sports a new bumper, vertical taillights, and an updated liftgate.
Baldauf
The interior remains more mysterious, but we can likely expect a revamped dashboard and a new Pleos Connect infotainment system. The latter debuted in the facelifted Grandeur with a 17-inch display, although the new Elantra offers smaller 12.9- and 14.6-inch setups.
Engine options will likely carryover and include a turbocharged 2.5-liter four-cylinder with 277 hp (207 kW / 281 PS) and 311 lb-ft (421 Nm) of torque. It should be joined by a hybridized 1.6-liter turbo pumping out 231 hp (172 kW / 234 PS) and 271 lb-ft (367 Nm). There have also been rumors about a new range-extended variant, but little is known about it.
