Hyundai Santa Fe Undergoes Radical Surgery
It's been a long time since your author has seen a redesign as radical as what Hyundai is promising with the new Santa Fe. Quite frankly, it's a bit refreshing to see an automaker make a change this major -- though there are exceptions, redesigns lately seem to be more often about evolution than revolution. I applaud the strategy regardless of what I think of the execution.
I will have more on that latter point in a few weeks, as I'm slated to fly to New Mexico to see the Santa Fe in the flesh.
Key design details include H-shaped headlamps, H-shaped taillamps, and an H-shaped front fascia, defined wheel arches, and 21-inch wheels.
The tailgate is larger than before and the second- and third-row seats will fold down. The H-shape motif continues on the dashboard and air vents. Features will include a curved digital display, a 12.3-inch instrument screen, and wireless charging for two devices. Nappa leather seats will be available.
Hyundai promises to use a mix of sustainable materials, including recycled plastics and leatherette seating surfaces.
That's pretty much all of the actual details I could scrape from the buzzword-heavy press release. We'll know more soon.
[Images: Hyundai]
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Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.
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New example has shown up on the road in Korea, and it doesn't look as good as in the PR pics!
https://twitter.com/CoreyLewis86/status/1681718348298502154?s=20
looks like a modern Ford Flex, which is good IMO. I do wish it were the larger (Palisade) size just so you could maximize that boxiness for 7/8 passengers