Hyundai makes some great cars that are extremely competitive with what its peers have to offer. However, one of its peers, Kia, also makes some great cars that are competitive with what other automakers offer. But, with Hyundai’s latest Santa Fe, Hyundai may be taking a few cues from Kia’s designs.

The brand-new 2021 Hyundai Santa Fe

As MotorTrend wrote, Hyundai recently unveiled its newest Santa Fe model year, and it looks very different from the past versions of the car. That’s because instead of doing what MotorTrend called “the Russian doll strategy,” Hyundai has decided to give each of its SUVs a different and more unique look from one another.

For the Santa Fe in particular, the biggest changes are to its face. MotorTrend said that the new Santa Fe’s grille will now extend from the entire length of the car’s front end. Additionally, the Santa Fe has brand-new headlights that also give it a unique look. The new Santa Fe’s headlights pass through each other, which gives it a T-bone shape.

While this headlight design is pretty unique for the car, the new grille design is pretty similar to what the Kia Telluride has. There are some slight differences between the two grilles, but they’re quite similar regardless. This may make some people think that Hyundai is stealing from Kia’s design, but that’s not really true. 

Hyundai’s relationship with Kia

As Streetsville Hyundai wrote, both automakers are from Korea, and when Kia went bankrupt in 2007, Hyundai ended up buying a significant portion of Kia. Hyundai doesn’t own Kia entirely, and Kia operates as a separate car company from Hyundai in pretty much every significant way. That said, due to the fact that Hyundai owns a big part of Kia, their cars sometimes share some similarities.

It’s entirely possible that Hyundai did take a cue from Kia with the Santa Fe’s new grille. However, due to the close relationship that the two companies have with one another, this may not be a big deal. Alternatively, it’s possible that Hyundai’s design team just liked the design of the Santa Fe’s new grille, and the design team didn’t even consider the fact that the Telluride has a similar grille. 

There are many other explanations or possibilities for why this happened, but ultimately, it doesn’t really matter too much. At the end of the day, customers and automakers care more about what the cars can do, and, as history has shown, both the Santa Fe and the Telluride are great SUVs.

Two of the best SUVs in their class

Both SUVs are great, and both have a lot to offer to their customers. For example, both the Santa Fe and the Telluride come with a lot of standard smart safety equipment that makes them both really safe for drivers and their families. Both SUVs are very practical as well, and they both come with engines that are powerful enough, while also being quite fuel-efficient. 

Additionally, they’re both very spacious SUVs that’ll offer their owners plenty of room to sit around in or to haul stuff around with. In terms of price, they’re also both relatively affordable as both SUVs are in the $20,000 to $30,000 range. For what they offer, that price tag is a bargain since that’s roughly the same price tag for some sedans. 

That said, critics have their opinion on which SUV they like better than the other. For example, U.S. News preferred the Santa Fe over the Telluride. Regardless of which SUV is better, they both are great options for customers to consider when they’re shopping for a brand-new SUV.