More details have come to light on the upcoming 2021 Hyundai Santa Cruz compact pickup, which will be sold in the United States and manufactured at the South Korean company’s plant in Alabama.
Hyundai confirmed the eventual arrival of the 2021 Santa Cruz late last fall, but its announcement was fairly light on details. Car and Driver has since done some digging and revealed more about the upcoming unibody truck.
The publication says the Santa Cruz will only be offered as a four-door and with a single bed length. Under the hood will be a naturally aspirated 2.4L four-cylinder engine, though a more powerful turbocharged 2.0L four-cylinder will be offered as an option. Paired with the motors will be the automaker’s eight-speed automatic transmission, which will feed power to all four wheels. The small unibody truck will ride on the same platform as the Hyundai Sante Fe mid-size crossover.
“Santa Cruz is for those who want all the traditional attributes of a compact utility vehicle, but need the day-to-day versatility of an open bed,” Hyundai said previously. “It’s the crossover that creates a whole new segment that successfully combines capability and utility to meet the unspoken needs of a new generation of buyers, especially Millennials.”
The Hyundai Santa Cruz will be positioned to take on the Honda Ridgeline – the only other unibody truck currently on sale in North America. Ford is also working on its own compact unibody truck, however, in the way of the Ford Courier. The Ford Courier is expected to go on sale before the end of 2021, as is the Santa Cruz.
2021 Ford Courier prototype
General Motors does not offer a compact unibody truck in the U.S. or Canada. It is currently developing the next-generation Chevrolet Montana, which will ride on the new GEM (Global Emerging Markets) platform, but the Montana is not expected to arrive in the United States or Canada. It’s possible the Montana could arrive in the U.S. or Canada if GM changes course and develops it with the North American market in mind, but as of right now, the Montana is for emerging markets only, such as Brazil.
Next-generation Chevrolet Montana rendering
If the Hyundai Santa Cruz and Courier are major sales successes, GM is likely to respond with its own small unibody truck. As we said above, though, GM has no plans to offer such a product at this time. In the meantime, the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon, which are body-on-frame, mid-size trucks, fill the demand for smaller GM trucks.
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Comments
No articles about anything other than Hyundai’s over at hyundaiauthority I suspect, (just checked Couldn’t find the web site, i’ll do a little more digging)
Can we get that here, that would be nice
Imagine a Chevy truck built using the sporty Blazer and with just 2 doors might be a new generation El Camino.. one could already mentally render an image of the Blazer pickup in RS AWD trim.
I can’t disagree a Blazer “el camino” variant would be cool but as a 2 door it’d have to be marketed as a stand alone retro type vehicle wiwthin the Blazer model range ,
ah where as I think a smaler GEM based new gen Montana model would have alot more potentnial for big
sales . Not talking a dump on the next gen el camino idea , but the Montana would be the big seller .
Build em both .
I’d like to see the little Montana have at least a 5 ft bed lenght and use a enhanced version of the GM 1.5L 4 cylinder turbo juiced up up to 185-195 bhp, preferably the higher level and a 9spd auto and in front and
Awd drive . Montana a good name , the 4wd model should have factory outfitted 17 inch AT tires where the front driver would get all seasons . I’d like to see a SS model in both using the new 2.oL turbo from the XT4.
Its a shame we can’t get the 170 hp 2L diesel GM is using for the european XT4 , that’d be super cool in a
truck likem this , specially the Awd version.
I say to GM here , com on guys , let your engineers imaginations fly here , its worked in the past , pontiac GTO, Camaro , the Crovette in the 50’s , Buick Grand National , .
There is no reason to expect this to be anything but huge hit for Hyundai. They’re on a role because they provide good styling, great value and an excellent warranty for the money.
GM should have thought of this first but they’re to focused on EV’s in China and here.. some day? I doubt a GM version would be as desirable as this and it would have a crappy “jet black’ interior, be priced over this and have 2/3 the warranty.