This summer, August, was quite extraordinary for the automotive industry. Over just four weeks, Toyota presented the all-new 2024 Land Cruiser worldwide, Cadillac unveiled the 2025 Escalade IQ, and the Monterey Car Week proved that traditional auto shows are mostly obsolete.
Oh, and let us not forget that Hyundai premiered the 2024 Santa Fe's MX5 fifth generation in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA. The new iteration comes in stark contrast to the previous models – all of them adopted a sweeping design, but now the South Korean automaker dared to change everything and dropped in a decidedly boxy styling.
Naturally, everyone and their mother started drawing comparisons with the iconic Land Rover Defender. However, considering its mid-size class and overall dimensions plus the platform, it would be more appropriate to consider this three-row CUV also as a main rival for the first-ever, all-new 2024 Toyota Grand Highlander. That's because the new Santa Fe is a little over 190 inches long (4,830 mm or 190.2 in), and the Land Rover Defender 110 reaches up to 5,018 mm (197.6 inches).
Meanwhile, the 2024 Grand Highlander is a lot longer at 5,116 mm (201.4 inches) but uses a unibody (TNGA-K) platform, too, just like the Santa Fe (Hyundai-Kia N3) and Defender (D7x). Besides, the formerly-rugged Land Rover is now dreaming of the luxury class, whereas the Santa Fe and Grand Highlander are content with their mass-market (MSRP) roots.
Anyway, the fact remains that the new Santa Fe is the smallest of the bunch – and we didn't even talk about any of the larger SUVs like the Ford Expedition Max, Lincoln Navigator L, Chevy Suburban, GMC Yukon XL, or the Cadillac Escalade ESV, plus the Land Rover Defender 130. However, maybe it's time we do that – at the behest of the imaginative realm of digital car content creators.
Remembering that the third generation Santa Fe had short and long wheelbase (Grand/XL) versions, the good folks over at the AutoYa info channel on YouTube have imagined the CGI looks of the unannounced 2025 Hyundai Grand Santa Fe, a full-size crossover SUV with ample space for the second and third rows of seats plus additional cargo capacity. More precisely, the host thinks the room for the second row could grow by 2 inches (52 mm), for the third row by 3 inches (77 mm), and for the family's luggage by an additional ten cu. ft. or 280 liters.
As far as the design is concerned, all Hyundai has to do is extend the rear doors and the rear overhang to make it extra-roomy and a potential foe even for the Land Rover Defender 130, which is no less than 210.9 inches (5,358 mm) long. As always, the channel's resident pixel master reworked the body to portray their unofficial vision and also presented additional color options to make their design project ritzier!
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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