Hyundai Santa Cruz Pickup Dresses Down in Spy Shot

Interesting, segment-shunning product isn’t as commonplace as it once was, but some automakers are still willing to think outside the box. The two-box shape, that is. Hyundai’s one of them, as the automaker’s long-awaited Santa Cruz pickup is now greenlit and headed for production in Alabama in 2021.

More consumer-friendly than the concept vehicle released in 2015, the production Santa Cruz has already been spied undergoing testing while wearing frumpy camouflage. Now, it’s been seen in the buff.

Not unclothed in the traditional sense, however. The body shell turned up in a photo sent to Motor1, free of drivetrain and suspension components. Still, it’s our best look yet.

With its Elantra-esque side creases giving it away as a Hyundai (not Ford’s upcoming company, unibody pickup), the vehicle’s profile seems to match the earlier spy pics of a driveable product.

Yes, it’s unibody, as Hyundai brass surely wouldn’t have signed off on a niche model of dubious demand if they couldn’t reach deep into the parts bin. The platform underpinning the Santa Fe is expected to serve beneath the Santa Cruz, and one imagines the crossover will offer up its engines, as well.

With brawny wheel arch (and rocker) cladding a certainty, the Santa Cruz boasts a pleasing profile that distances itself from such oddly-proportioned creations as the defunct Subaru Baja. Sadly, the angle of the pic prevents us from seeing whether the model carries a bed-lengthening midgate. Too bad. We already knew a conventional four-door arrangement was in the cards, as sexy clamshell doors rarely carry over from concept to showroom.

As it gets its act together following the coronavirus shutdown, it will be interesting to see Hyundai move forward on this product. Priced correctly, it could prove a viable model with buyers who see no need in spending more to gain excess capacity they’ll likely never use.

[Image: Hyundai]