The Hyundai Santa Cruz is a four-door compact

pickup truck A pickup truck or pickup is a light-duty truck that has an enclosed cabin, and a back end made up of a cargo bed that is enclosed by three low walls with no roof (this cargo bed back end sometimes consists of a tailgate and removable covering) ...

produced by

Hyundai Hyundai is a South Korean industrial conglomerate ("chaebol"), which was restructured into the following groups: * Hyundai Group, parts of the former conglomerate which have not been divested ** Hyundai Mobis, Korean car parts company ** Hyundai ...

. Released in 2021 for the 2022

model year The model year (sometimes abbreviated "MY") is a method of describing the version of a product which has been produced over multiple years. The model year may or may not be the same as the calendar year in which the product was manufactured. ...

, the Santa Cruz is the first 4-door pickup truck sold by Hyundai in the North American market. The vehicle is based on the

Tucson , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

crossover SUV, and uses a

unibody A vehicle frame, also historically known as its '' chassis'', is the main supporting structure of a motor vehicle to which all other components are attached, comparable to the skeleton of an organism. Until the 1930s, virtually every car ha ...

chassis design as opposed to the

ladder frame A vehicle frame, also historically known as its ''chassis'', is the main supporting structure of a motor vehicle to which all other components are attached, comparable to the skeleton of an organism. Until the 1930s, virtually every car had a ...

used by most pickup trucks. Industry analysts expected the Santa Cruz to attract car or crossover buyers instead of people who have owned a larger, traditional pickup truck.

Overview

The vehicle was previewed by a

concept Concepts are defined as abstract ideas. They are understood to be the fundamental building blocks of the concept behind principles, thoughts and beliefs. They play an important role in all aspects of cognition. As such, concepts are studied by s ...

pickup truck that was showcased at the 2015 North American International Auto Show with the same name. The production model was revealed in April 2021 for the North American market. Marketed as a "Sport Adventure Vehicle", it is closely related to the fourth-generation Tucson, sharing the same project code, production site, and dashboard design. It also features a similar styling introduced on the fourth-generation Tucson, with its front end dominated by the grille with integrated

daytime running lights A daytime running lamp (DRL, also daytime running light) is an automotive lighting and bicycle lighting device on the front of a roadgoing motor vehicle or bicycle, automatically switched on when the vehicle's handbrake has been pulled down, wh ...

. The Santa Cruz uses a front-wheel-drive configuration as the base model, with an available upgrade to the HTRAC all-wheel-drive system. The HTRAC system allows for the rear wheels to receive up to 50 percent of the drive power via a lockable clutched center differential. It is equipped with strut suspension for the front wheels and a multi-link independent suspension in the rear. The rear suspension is equipped with self-leveling shock absorbers to keep the truck level even when there is weight on the bed or a trailer on the hitch. The vehicle is available with the standard 2.5-liter 4-cylinder direct injection gasoline engine that produces and of torque (U.S. only). A

turbocharged In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pro ...

2.5-liter engine that produces and of torque is available as an option (standard in Canada). The base engine is paired with an eight-speed automatic transmission, while the turbocharged engine gets an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic with paddle shifters.

Sales

References

External links

Official website
(United States)
Official website
(Canada) {{Hyundai North America Santa Cruz Pickup trucks Sport utility trucks Cars introduced in 2021 Front-wheel-drive vehicles All-wheel-drive vehicles Motor vehicles manufactured in the United States