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2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz Starting Price Rumored At “Around $25,000”

Can you believe it was 2015 when the Santa Cruz concept crossover pickup thingy was presented? Hyundai sure took its sweet time with the development of the unibody truck, but come 2021, the newcomer will enter production in Montgomery, Alabama.
2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz 36 photos
Photo: Stefan Baldauf/SB-Medien
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Hyundai confirmed the production date and location in November 2019, and the reason the South Koreans chose the U.S. is to escape the Chicken Tax on imported trucks. The 25-percent tariff on light trucks dates back to 1964 when Lyndon B. Johnson was running the show, a curious reminder of the protectionist policies of the Cold War.

Car & Driver suggests that “around $25,000” will be the starting price of the Santa Cruz, and given the 2021 start of production, it’s more than obvious that we’re dealing with a 2022 model year. “The unibody truck will be offered with a single bed length, a four-door crew cab, and a choice of four-cylinder engines,” likely including a turbo option.

Obvious candidates? The 2.4-liter N/A from the Santa Fe and the 2.0-liter T-GDi from the Veloster N though detuned for payload and towing, not sporty stuff. All-wheel-drive and an eight-speed automatic transmission should be on the menu as well, and if Honda is to be taken into consideration, then we’ll be treated to front-wheel-drive as standard.

For the 2020 model year, the Ridgeline is pretty much the only unibody workhorse available in the United States at $33,900 before destination charge. Honda offers a 3.5-liter N/A V6 and a nine-speed automatic right off the bat. Towing capacity ranges from 3,500 pounds (1,588 kilograms) for 2WD to 5,000 pounds (2,268 kilograms) for AWD.

Since it will be manufactured in the plant that also churns out the Santa Fe, it shouldn’t come as a surprise what kind of platform underpins the Santa Cruz. But as opposed to the Honda Ridgeline, Hyundai will certainly advertise this thing as a “crossover truck.”

Seriously! According to Hyundai, whatever materializes from the 2015 concept will target urban adventurers on a budget.” In other words, the Santa Cruz wants to be cool enough and affordable enough to steal sales from the Ridgeline as well as mid-sizers like the Ford Ranger, Chevy Colorado, and the ever-popular Toyota Tacoma.
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About the author: Mircea Panait
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After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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