2024 Hyundai Santa Cruz Gets Rugged XRT Trim, New Safety Gear

The Hyundai Santa Cruz is an automotive oddity. It’s a little hard to explain why it hasn’t been wildly successful. Maybe it should be. So, for its third year on the market, Hyundai will make just minor tweaks to its compact pickup.

The Santa Cruz arrived in 2022, at about the same time as the Ford Maverick. The pair were the first true small pickups on the American market in almost a decade. They filled a niche that had sat unfilled for a long time – pickups small enough to be convenient in urban settings but still capable of hauling home a weekend’s worth of projects from the hardware store.

One – the Maverick — rocketed to sales success. Ford recently warned that it will probably sell out of 2024 Mavericks quickly, just as it did in 2023 and 2022. The other – the Santa Cruz – has remained a footnote and a rare sight.

Yet the Santa Cruz has many of the same virtues as the Mav, plus a much longer warranty. Our test driver called the 2023 Santa Cruz “an unconventional pickup truck” but  “the right truck for many drivers” with its SUV-like comfort and functional bed.

So Hyundai will double down for the 2024 model year, making few changes.

Light Off-Road XRT Trim

The Santa Cruz gains a trim level and loses a trim level for 2024. The mid-level SEL Premium trim disappears, replaced by a sporty XRT edition. The XRT boasts all-season tires and scratch-resistant fender cladding to make the Santa Cruz slightly more capable of light off-roading. It also brings functional side steps for added practicality. Darkened trim lends it new style, and H-Tex faux leather seating (but real leather on the steering wheel and shift knob) lend it a little luxury.

All 2024 Santa Cruz models now get standard lane-keeping assistance with a new haptic feedback system that vibrates the steering wheel to warn you you’re drifting.

2024 Hyundai Santa Cruz Pricing: