Hyundai is hot
Hyundai North America president and CEO José Muñoz joins Gary Gastelu in The Fox Garage to talk about the brand's recent success, the upcoming Santa Cruz pickup and its drive toward electrification.
The Hyundai Santa Cruz compact pickup will be the Ford Maverick to market, but not on price.
The all-new Alabama-built model will start at $25,175 when deliveries begin at the end of July, compared to $21,490 for the Maverick, which is expected to begin deliveries from its factory in Mexico this fall.
(Hyundai)
Full details on included equipment have not been released, but the base front-wheel-drive Santa Cruz is powered by a 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine and EPA rated at 23 mpg combined while the slightly larger Maverick comes standard with a 181 hp hybrid powertrain that will be good for 37 mpg, according to Ford.
Both vehicles are also available in models with all-wheel-drive and turbocharged engines that start at $22,575 for the 250 hp Maverick and $36,865 for the 275 hp Santa Cruz, but at very different trim levels. The top Maverick turbo starts at $30,935 before options are added.
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Unlike traditional pickups, both the Santa Cruz and Maverick are based on unibody platforms that they share with the Tucson and Escape SUVs, respectively.
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Hyundai North America CEO José Muñoz told The Fox Garage that he expected the first year's supply of the Santa Cruz to be spoken for by the time deliveries begin, but did not reveal what that volume would be, while Ford CEO Jim Farley said during the automaker's second-quarter earnings call that it had received 36,000 reservations within the first week after its June reveal.