Before the Hyundai Santa Cruz has even arrived to compete with the upcoming Ford Maverick, Hyundai is already talking about making a bigger truck. Will this more robust truck have a unibody frame like the Honda Ridgeline, or will it be a new body-on-frame contender? 

The Hyundai Santa Cruz could get bigger 

The Hyundai Santa Cruz could be getting a bigger brother soon. While people think that the Santa Cruz is the truck to come from Hyundai, it’s actually not. The Porter H-100 has been around in South Korea as a reliable work truck for decades. It’s a cabover truck with rear-wheel drive and is the cousin of the Kia Bongo. 

Wow, this article started pretty wild with words like the Kia Bongo… Anyways, Hyundai is accredited when it comes to producing hard-working vehicles, and the Hyundai Santa Cruz is aimed at more lifestyle uses instead of being a fully capable utilitarian truck. 

Now Hyundai may develop a new, larger pickup for practicality soon. SangYup Lee, the Head of Hyundai Global, shared that Hyundai has many different possible future options. But this wasn’t the first clue about a larger Hyundai pickup truck. 

Could it be the Hyundai Creta STC? 

Earlier in the year, Albert Biermann, Head of Hyundai Global Research, provided a hint about a one-ton truck that could receive the new straight-six diesel engine found in the Hyundai Genesis GV80. 

This luxury SUV and its 3.0-liter engine provide 278 hp and 434 lb-ft of torque. The towing capacity hasn’t been revealed for this SUV yet. Also, a possible hybrid engine is in the works. Could the hybrid powertrain be used in the new pickup truck too? 

It’s unclear how the new Hyundai pickup truck will be styled. It could look like the Hyundai Creta STC, a concept truck that was revealed in 2016. It’s a sportier-looking option, but it still falls on the small side. Also, we know that the 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz has styling cues based on the 2022 Hyundai Tucson. 

What we know about the 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz 

The Hyundai Santa Cruz and Ford Maverick are both smaller options going after the Honda Ridgeline with a small, unibody frame. Pricing could begin under $25,000, but we hope for an even lower price to have affordable compact trucks available. 

Even though the truck is based on the Hyundai Tucson, it should be much more capable of off-roading and speeding through desert sand. Spy shots revealed the truck heading toward the desert for testing, but it was heavily camouflaged. 

Currently, the Hyundai Tucson has a 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine that pumps out 191-hp. But it’s being totally redesigned for 2022 and could have a more powerful engine and possibly a hybrid transmission that could be used in the Hyundai Santa Cruz as well. 

Also, rumors suggest that the Hyundai Santa Fe could get a diesel engine, so could that option be paired with the 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz? That would give it an edge against smaller truck options that only have gasoline engines. 

Because the Hyundai Santa Cruz has a unibody design, it will be all-wheel-drive, and not four-wheel-drive. But it should still be capable of off-roading and traversing through sand and snow. Perhaps the larger Hyundai truck will be a 4×4 with more power for crawling over rocks.