- Hyundai will build its first midsize truck for the U.S. market before 2030
- It will be a hardworking body-on-frame design, not a car-based model like its current small truck
Hyundai is getting into the pickup truck game. And, this time, it won’t be doing so with a light-duty trucklet like the Santa Cruz. The company plans a body-on-frame truck design to compete with the Toyota Tacoma, Ford Ranger, and Chevrolet Colorado.
The news comes from a presentation to investors late last week. Hyundai CEO José Muñoz told the group, “Pickup trucks represent a white-space opportunity we are ready to capture. The midsize truck segment is one of the largest and most profitable in the industry. Since launching Santa Cruz back in 2021, we’ve gained valuable experience and brand presence in this segment.”
He went on to say, however, that Hyundai’s next truck will not have much in common with the Santa Cruz.
“We are preparing to launch a new body-on-frame model before 2030 to build out our truck portfolio,” Muñoz explained, “with the potential for an SUV variant.”
To translate that from engineering jargon, trucks and SUVs come from two different structures. Body-on-frame construction attaches the suspension and drivetrain to a ladder-style frame, with a body and cabin built on top. It’s used for off-road vehicles and work trucks because the frame’s inherent flex keeps the wheels in contact with the ground across uneven surfaces. That same flexibility can make for a rougher ride in road duty, however.
Unibody construction builds the car’s body as the frame in a single rigid unit. It provides a smoother on-road ride, but the lack of flex makes it harder to build a successful off-roader.
Hyundai’s only current truck, the Santa Cruz, is a unibody vehicle based on the Tucson SUV. We’re fans of its smooth ride and light-duty weekend gardener hauling chops, but we wouldn’t try to use it like we would a Tacoma or a Colorado.
In a product roadmap published last week, Hyundai also noted that it will co-develop five vehicles with General Motors, including “compact and midsize trucks for Central and South America.” But that project is listed separately from the body-on-frame truck, which appears to be a Hyundai-only effort.
