Surely, Hyundai is facing many problems. There are different permutations and combinations, and the company cannot launch all the engine + bodywork + drive type combinations at a single go.
Hyundai recognises this problem as well. A company official added – “We are aiming at a range.
When you cut up the entire market, you split it up between 4×4 and 4×2, who owns 4×2 and what power train goes with that and then 4×4 crew cab versus cab or chassis and so on.
We want to be smart about it. And that is what we are going through at the moment.
Andrew ( Hyundai product manager) is having a lot of sleepless nights over this because we are going fast down that road, but we do need to be smart about it so that when people look at it, they say ‘yep, that is it’.”
Before receiving the local manufacturing confirmation, there were rumours that the truck would be imported, perhaps from Australia.
But Hyundai was quick to extinguish these rumours and said that if the car were to come to the States, then it would need to have an assembly plant here.
Imported trucks attract a 25 per cent tariff, which would make the car an expensive affair and probably a dead-on-arrival product.
But the outcome will surely reach here in the future as there is a growing market for the small utes.
The Ford Ranger made an amazing comeback. Though its sales were low initially, there is a consistent increase in sales every month.
Hyundai is not trying anything new here. It is just tapping into a slot that might soon emerge as a popular segment.
Compact pickups used to be a ‘thing’ a few decades back but soon wandered off into oblivion. With products like Santa Cruz, they are still a chance for its comeback.
