We know the new Hyundai Santa Fe will have a blocky redesign, and now we can confirm the interior will go that way too.
The 무한질주TV (Infinite Running) YouTube channel has posted a video of the fifth-generation Hyundai Santa Fe. The exterior seems to carry the same amount of camouflage as the prototype spied at the beginning of the month.
Despite this we can see the new crossover has a bluff front end, upright tailgate, relatively flat sides, and a pretty vertical C-pillar. This is quite a design departure compared to current and previous generations of the Santa Fe, all of which have favoured softer, organic shapes.
The A-pillar is blacked out, hinting at a floating roof look. As with recent Hyundai models, the Santa Fe will be available with interesting wheel options too.
The channel also posted a few views of the interior. While the dashboard is fully covered up, it looks as though the new Santa Fe will feature a single rectangular slab housing both the digital instrumentation display and infotainment touchscreen.
The interior door panels feature flat, rectangular padded arm rests, and come equipped with large, square metal-style door handles.
Both the second and third row of seats are folded down in this vehicle, and we can see the square theme is carried through to the cupholders in the third-row arm rests.
Up front there’s an interesting pair of seats with leather-style trim on the outside, and a technical pattern in the centre. The headrests live on large plastic slabs that rise up at at the top of the seats.
It’s unclear which drivetrains will be offered with the new Santa Fe, but Hyundai Australia has just confirmed the current model will be offered with a 169kW/350Nm 1.6-litre turbo hybrid drivetrain from the fourth quarter of this year.
This will join 148kW/440Nm 2.2-litre turbo-diesel, and 200kW/331Nm 3.5-litre V6 in the local range.
Overseas the Santa Fe is offered other engines, including a 142kW naturally-aspirated 2.5-litre four-cylinder, and 207kW version of the same engine. There’s also a 195kW/350Nm 1.6-litre turbo plug-in hybrid.
According to The Korean Car Blog, the new Santa Fe will grow in size, and will be classified in its homeland as a “large SUV” rather a medium-sized one.
At present there’s only a 100mm difference between the 4670mm long-wheelbase Tucson and the 4770mm Santa Fe. The growth will, of course, reduce the size difference between it and the 4995mm Palisade.
As we’ve noted previously, the Santa Fe’s sales ranking has gone backward, with the car losing sales to both the larger Palisade and its much more modern looking sibling, the Kia Sorento.
Up to the end of the August, the Santa Fe (2936) was a little ahead of the more expensive Palisade (2891), and well behind the Sorento (4304).
For context, the Santa Fe (5048) and Sorento (5126) recorded almost level sales in 2021.
