It appears that Hyundai’s upcoming pick-up truck will not follow a unibody chassis as suggested by the Santa Cruz Crossover Truck concept, but will instead ride on a ladder-frame platform.
“What’s clear to us is that if we’re going to bring an ute out, it had better be an ute. We’ve got past the first hurdle of what it needs to look like, but it needs to be functional as well. That’s the important part,” said John Kett, CEO of Hyundai Australia, in an interview with Which Car.
Kett added that the ladder-frame-based Hyundai pick-up, which will occupy by one-tonne segment, will compete against establishes nameplates like the Toyota Hilux and Ford Ranger.
Just like those models, Hyundai will prepare a wide range of variants for its pick-up, be it a 4×4 or 4×2 drivetrain as well as different cab layouts. “We’re looking at a range. When you cut up the ute market, you split it up between 4×4 and 4×2, who owns 4×2 and what powertrain goes with that, and then 4×4 crew cab versus cab/chassis and so on,” said Kett.
“We want to be smart about it and that’s what we’re going through at the moment. Andrew (Tuatahi, Hyundai product manager) is having a lot of sleepless nights over this because we’re going fast down that road, but we do need to be smart about it, so that when people look at it, they say ‘yep, that’s it’.”
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