2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz Profile Revealed in Accurate Rendering

Before we say anything else, we have to point out that the Santa Cruz is not Hyundai's first truck. In fact, the company has a whole truck-making business in Korea. But most of those have a cab-over design, whereas this is more "American," if you like.

It's also going to be built domestically at its factory in Alabama, after an investment of around $410 million. In fact, the body of the pickup got leaked earlier this week, and based on that picture, the Korean rendering artist AtchaCars made this image.

It copies all the design elements from the prototype and gives us a clear idea of what the Santa Cruz will look like from the side. As you can probably tell, this is a unibody vehicle, made like a normal car and with the bed fully attached. This means it will probably handle like a crossover, but might not be that capable off-road.

We like that Hyundai is willing to take these kinds of risks and sell a new type of small truck. Other automakers clearly thought about it. For example, Volkswagen made the Tarok and Tanoak as concepts, but never put them into production.

In order to sell this at a relatively affordable price (from about $25,000), Hyundai plans to offer the simplest layout possible while banking on the power of the design. Like the new Tucson CUV, this truck will hide a 2.5-liter behind a bold grille design and super-thin headlights.

Production is expected to start next year, but we wouldn't be surprised if more photos and renderings come out until then.