This one does look a bit uninspired, doesn't it?
The news of a Hyundai pickup truck has been out since the Korean marque showed the Santa Cruz concept back in 2015. Since then, several reports have come out but the ultimate news about it is that it's certainly happening. In fact, the Santa Cruz has made a spy shot debut while testing in Northern Europe.
The spy photos before pretty much showed us a heavily-camouflaged prototype, but of course, designers on the internet like KKS Studio didn't waste time to speculate on what the production Santa Cruz looks like.
Honestly, KKS Studio's rendering is a lot tamer than the concept version revealed before, which is fine since Hyundai confirmed that the Santa Cruz will drop the concept's futuristic design. Unsurprisingly, it sports the Santa Fe's grille, the vehicle that the Santa Cruz is reportedly based on. The edges of the shield have been altered, though, to incorporate the LED driving lamps into the grille itself.
Moreover, the side panels and the hood both lose character on this rendering, which makes this Hyundai pickup truck rendering look snazzier. But then again, the latter is a design study for a ladder-frame Hyundai truck, which reportedly will be the marque's global entry into the midsize pickup truck market.
Other Fictional Renderings Of What-Ifs:
With that said, the Santa Cruz pickup truck will be exclusively available for the American market and will have a unibody construction. It will be built in Hyundai's Alabama manufacturing facility, which points us to speculate that there will be two engine options: a 2.4-liter that makes 185 horsepower (138 kilowatts) or a turbocharged 2.0-liter producing 238 hp (177 kW).
The launch date hasn't been set in stone yet as of this writing, but since production is said to begin next year, we can expect to see it in the metal later that year.