2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz Review: Truck or Car?
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2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz Review: Truck or Car?Auto123 reviews the 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz pickup.
Hyundai first came to Canada in 1983 with a certain Pony (1984 model-year), a rear-wheel-drive subcompact that had more than a bit in common with the archaic Chevrolet Chevette. If someone had told me back in the day that Hyundai would become one of the world's automotive giants, and that it would even reach the point of going head-to-head with the Big Three by launching a pickup truck, I might have recommended therapy for them.
Yet here we are. Hyundai this year launched, not the sixth or seventh generation of the Pony, but the very first generation of the Hyundai Santa Cruz, a compact pickup for adventure lovers. Should we be surprised by such an innovative product from the Korean automaker? No, not really. For a decade now, Hyundai and Kia have been cranking out ambitious projects (Hyundai Veloster, the entire Genesis division, Kia Soul, Kia Stinger, Hyundai Ioniq 5, etc.) like there’s no tomorrow. Anyways, we’ve known for years this pickup was coming, since the company first showed a prototype back in… 2015.
Already a rival on the horizon
However, such is the dynamic state of the industry that already, this brand-new model has a rival. Ford has also just launched a unibody pickup designed for drivers who want a pickup truck... without all the drawbacks of a “real” pickup! Its Maverick is also likely to be quite successful both here and south of the border.
