Hyundai just pulled the wraps off its long-awaited pickup, the 2022 Santa Cruz. This unibody truck boasts a four-door cab, 52 inch bed, and a standard 2.5L engine making an expected 190 horsepower. In addition to available all-wheel drive, there’s an optional turbocharged 2.5L engine that Hyundai says will produce an estimated 275 horsepower and 310 lb.-ft. of torque.
The Santa Cruz is big news for North America—a market that really, really likes its pickup trucks. And from what we can tell on the spec sheet, Hyundai’s new truck is bringing the goods against some of the obvious competitors, namely the Honda Ridgeline and upcoming Ford Maverick.
2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz Engine, Transmission & Drivetrain
The standard 190 hp four is backed up by a traditional eight-speed automatic. Yet when buyers opt for the turbocharged 275 hp engine, they get an eight-speed dual-clutch transmission along with those nifty paddle shifters on the steering wheel.
Either engines can get Hyundai’s HTRAC all-wheel drive setup that boasts active torque control to modulate the power sent to each wheel.
Key Santa Cruz Specs: Towing, Bed & More
In standard trim, the 2022 Santa Cruz has a stout 3,500-pound tow rating and with the higher output engine and AWD, towing capability goes up to 5,000 pounds.
The 2022 Santa Cruz also has what Hyundai calls a “Multi-Utility” bed, which is just a fancy way of saying its got some adjustability and configuration options. And you’ll see that in the spec sheet, where Hyundai lists two different bed lengths, 48.4 inches for the “upper” part, and 52.1 inches for the “lower” part. (We’re thinking that’s perhaps due to the tonneau cover storage assembly.)
In addition to a lockable tonneau cover, the bed features a big locking rear trunk compartment under the bed floor.
As of now, it’s shorter, narrower, and lower than pretty much every other truck in its class, so it’ll be interesting to see how the Santa Cruz does in attracting new, and perhaps first-time, truck buyers.
Hyundai says Santa Cruz production begins in June and its new truck should appear on lots by the summer. In the meantime, you can check out the official Santa Cruz press release from Hyundai here.
Hyundai has come out and said not to call this a truck. This is more of a life style vehicle than a truck according to them. This will avoid the anti truck blast the Ridgeline gets.
I have always called the Ridgeline the truck for people who don’t like trucks.
FWD based trucks have always failed. Even the Ridgeline sells only half what the GM mid size trucks sell that trail the Tacoma. But the margins are greater since they are based on CUV platforms. Ford with the Maverick is trying to go more truck like. Hyundai is going more CUV like Most buyers are coming from CUV models.
It will be interesting to see if this segment grows or if they end up fighting for the same small group of buyers.
Imagine a Chevy Blazer with a bed in back.
What many forget is that the mid size trucks cost nearly as much as a full size to build and they are boxed in price wise. They are difficult to sell over $40K and there is no money in them at $25K. These CUV based models will share platforms with the other models so they will be more profitable but they will not be a whole lot cheaper. Also the MPG will not be much better.
This is a “Ute”. A truck is something you drive to the gravel pit to pick up a yard or two of sand or pea stone and still be able to open the rear doors afterward….
This to me is a real letdown, why would you introduce a new truck and not have it be a hybrid or offer one as an option?
Ford has its F150 as an option – maybe that’s why there # one in truck sales.
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