Photo: CarPix
With us since 2015, the Tucson is about to receive a mid-cycle refresh to keep it relevant in the hotly contested compact crossover segment. Coming for the 2019 model year (late 2018), the new Tucson has been spied doing its thing outside the Hyundai technical center in Russelsheim.
What can you expect from the facelifted model? For starters the latest interpretation of the cascading grille, complete with chrome surround and piano black inserts. The lower part of the bumper is more streamlined, whilst the headlights also appear to have received different LED DRLs.
Moving on to the exterior, there’s not much to tell because of the thick camouflage blanket hiding the power tailgate from sight. The bumper is, of course, different than before. As for the taillights, it appears Hyundai operated changes here as well, though nothing much to write home about.
Looking closely at the pre-production prototype with German number plates, the Tucson has some elements missing, most noticeably the side skirts. All in all, the compact crossover will be more aligned with the i30/Elantra GT than with the next-generation of utility vehicles, spearheaded by the Nexo fuel cell electric vehicle presented as CES 2018.
What’s hiding under the hood? I’m afraid the 1.6- to 2.0-liter four-cylinder engines that are already available will carry over, along with the six-speed manual, automatic, and the seven-speed dual-clutch. Something the Tucson will introduce as an all-new feature is 48-volt mild-hybrid technology. The news comes courtesy of Woong-chul Yang, vice chairman of the R&D division at the Hyundai Motor Group, though he didn’t go into specifics.
What’s certain is that Europe is the target market for the mild-hybrid Tucson, and that the system will be shared with the Sportage and medium-sized SUV lineup consisting of the Santa Fe and Sorento. In addition to these fellas, the third-generation Cee’d is also going mild-hybrid.
And with a bit of luck, the Tucson N will happen in a few years time.
Moving on to the exterior, there’s not much to tell because of the thick camouflage blanket hiding the power tailgate from sight. The bumper is, of course, different than before. As for the taillights, it appears Hyundai operated changes here as well, though nothing much to write home about.
Looking closely at the pre-production prototype with German number plates, the Tucson has some elements missing, most noticeably the side skirts. All in all, the compact crossover will be more aligned with the i30/Elantra GT than with the next-generation of utility vehicles, spearheaded by the Nexo fuel cell electric vehicle presented as CES 2018.
What’s hiding under the hood? I’m afraid the 1.6- to 2.0-liter four-cylinder engines that are already available will carry over, along with the six-speed manual, automatic, and the seven-speed dual-clutch. Something the Tucson will introduce as an all-new feature is 48-volt mild-hybrid technology. The news comes courtesy of Woong-chul Yang, vice chairman of the R&D division at the Hyundai Motor Group, though he didn’t go into specifics.
What’s certain is that Europe is the target market for the mild-hybrid Tucson, and that the system will be shared with the Sportage and medium-sized SUV lineup consisting of the Santa Fe and Sorento. In addition to these fellas, the third-generation Cee’d is also going mild-hybrid.
And with a bit of luck, the Tucson N will happen in a few years time.
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