2024 New York Auto Show: Hyundai Doubles Up

Tim Healey
by Tim Healey

NEW YORK -- Hyundai kicked off the 2024 New York International Auto Show by dropping the new Tucson and a refreshed Santa Cruz minitruck.


The Santa Cruz gets an interior and exterior refresh, standard wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and the XRT trim gets beefed up a bit with all-terrain tires and front tow hooks.

As part of the refresh, the dash gets redesigned to have a curving layout that sweeps the gauge cluster into the infotainment screen.

XRTs get their own grille, front and rear fascias, 18-inch wheels, and badging. The approach angle is increased, and a 360-degree camera and blind-spot monitoring are added.

For the rest of the lineup, the grille and front fascia are reworked along with the daytime running lights. Customers now have new wheel designs to chose from.

In addition to the new dash, there's a new steering wheel and new audio/climate controls with -- hallelujah -- knobs and buttons. The rear-seat armrest has two cupholders.

There's more -- over-the-air update capability is added. So are USB-C ports, an in-car payment system, Hyundai's BlueLink+ infotainment app, a digital key, towing mode for certain trims, and a fingerprint scanner. Forward-attention warning is now available.

Perhaps the bigger news from Hyundai is the new Tucson. It, too, is refreshed, getting new wheel designs and changes to the front and rear lighting. The front and rear ends are massaged, getting new fascias. The grille is new, too.

The interior, meanwhile, gets the same treatment as with the Santa Cruz.

Certain models now get an column shifter, and the wireless charging pad gets moved to a more convenient location.

Other, smaller changes include the addition of noise-reducing laminated glass on the Limited trim.

As with the Santa Cruz, other additions include standard wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto plus available features such as forward-attention warning, digital key, and fingerprint scanner.

[Images: Hyundai]

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Tim Healey
Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

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  • Ajla Ajla on Mar 27, 2024

    My mother was a big fan of the Santa Cruz but didn't like the color palette or user interface. These updates might get her buying one.

  • Vulpine Vulpine on Mar 27, 2024

    I already have some of that in my '24 Santa Cruz I just purchased. And honestly, I like the current grille more than I do the new one. I won't argue the overall effect, however. So far I'm VERY pleased with my new, smaller, truck.

    • Vulpine Vulpine on Mar 27, 2024

      Note: It's VERY hard to argue with the factory warranty.


  • Redapple2 Front tag obscured. Rear tag - clear and sharp. Huh?
  • Redapple2 I can state what NOT to buy. HK. High theft. Insurance. Unrefined NVH. Rapidly degrading interiors. HK? No way !
  • Luke42 Serious answer:Now that I DD an EV, buying an EV to replace my wife’s Honda Civic is in the queue. My wife likes her Honda, she likes Apple CarPlay, and she can’t stand Elon Musk - so Tesla starts the competition with two demerit-points and Honda starts the competition with one merit-point.The Honda Prologue looked like a great candidate until Honda announced that the partnership with GM was a one-off thing and that their future EVs would be designed in-house.Now I’m more inclined toward the Blazer EV, the vehicle on which the Prologue is based. The Blazer EV and the Ultium platform won’t be orphaned by GM any time soon. But then I have to convince my wife she would like it better than her Honda Civic, and that’s a heavy lift because she doesn’t have any reason to be dissatisfied with her current car (I take care of all of the ICE-hassles for her).Since my wife’s Honda Civic is holding up well, since she likes the car, and since I take care of most of the drawbacks of drawbacks of ICE ownership for her, there’s no urgency to replace this vehicle.Honestly, if a paid-off Honda Civic is my wife’s automotive hill to die on, that’s a pretty good place to be - even though I personally have to continue dealing the hassles and expenses of ICE ownership on her behalf.My plan is simply to wait-and-see what Honda does next. Maybe they’ll introduce the perfect EV for her one day, and I’ll just go buy it.
  • 2ACL I have a soft spot for high-performance, shark-nosed Lancers (I considered the less-potent Ralliart during the period in which I eventually selected my first TL SH-AWD), but it's can be challenging to find a specimen that doesn't exhibit signs of abuse, and while most of the components are sufficiently universal in their function to service without manufacturer support, the SST isn't one of them. The shops that specialize in it are familiar with the failure as described by the seller and thus might be able to fix this one at a substantial savings to replacement. There's only a handful of them in the nation, however. A salvaged unit is another option, but the usual risks are magnified by similar logistical challenges to trying to save the original.I hope this is a case of the seller overvaluing the Evo market rather than still owing or having put the mods on credit. Because the best offer won't be anywhere near the current listing.
  • Peter Buying an EV from Toyota is like buying a Bible from Donald Trump. Don’t be surprised if some very important parts are left out.
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