Photo: Kolesa
The upcoming fifth-generation Hyundai Santa Fe was a bit of a mystery until recently, when prototypes started coming out of the woodwork under heavy camouflage. Despite the carmaker hiding all their features, we could still tell that we’re dealing with a brand-new boxy design language, unlike anything we’ve ever seen used on the Santa Fe in the past.
Hyundai aren’t known for boxy designs. In fact, most of their passenger vehicles feature either curvy or angular lines. This has been true for many years across multiple generations of cars. In fact, one could say that they all look “predominantly Korean”, which is one way of saying “this or that car” doesn’t look American, German, British, Italian or Japanese.
Anyway, we need to pay close attention to what Hyundai is doing with the all-new fifth-generation Santa Fe, because this is a wildly popular model across the globe. In the United States, Santa Fe's yearly sales haven’t dipped below 100,000 units since 2013, which could explain why this upcoming new model might look considerably more rugged.
While we haven’t been able to peek beneath the camouflage on any of those prototypes, the folks over at Kolesa tried their best to picture what this SUV might look like when nude and they’ve done a pretty good job overall.
Their rendering looks kind of like a more modern Ford Bronco Sport. Another way to look at it would be as sort of the poor man’s Land Rover Defender. To be fair, neither comparison should be viewed as a negative, seen as how most SUV buyers tend to appreciate ruggedness.
Also, it’s possible that Hyundai might bump the Santa Fe up a class in terms of dimensions, turning it into a genuine large SUV by modern-day standards, as opposed to the mid-sized exterior featured today. Hopefully, we’ll learn more in the coming months.
Anyway, we need to pay close attention to what Hyundai is doing with the all-new fifth-generation Santa Fe, because this is a wildly popular model across the globe. In the United States, Santa Fe's yearly sales haven’t dipped below 100,000 units since 2013, which could explain why this upcoming new model might look considerably more rugged.
While we haven’t been able to peek beneath the camouflage on any of those prototypes, the folks over at Kolesa tried their best to picture what this SUV might look like when nude and they’ve done a pretty good job overall.
Their rendering looks kind of like a more modern Ford Bronco Sport. Another way to look at it would be as sort of the poor man’s Land Rover Defender. To be fair, neither comparison should be viewed as a negative, seen as how most SUV buyers tend to appreciate ruggedness.
Also, it’s possible that Hyundai might bump the Santa Fe up a class in terms of dimensions, turning it into a genuine large SUV by modern-day standards, as opposed to the mid-sized exterior featured today. Hopefully, we’ll learn more in the coming months.
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