We should see the new Hyundai Santa Fe midsize SUV later this year, with a more rugged shape and sporting elements recognizable from the new Hyundai Kona and refreshed Hyundai Sonata sedan. The overall shape of the SUV, codenamed MX5, is much boxier, as spy shots have revealed. That is because Hyundai changed how it approached the new Santa Fe, Hyundai and Genesis Global Design Head SangYup Lee tells MotorTrend in an interview.
The look of the next-generation SUV started with a boxy side profile, and the interior focus began at the back of the vehicle and progressed forward—the opposite of traditional design that starts with the cockpit and works its way to the cargo hold.
It’s All About the Cargo Space
The reason for the reversal: emphasis on the cargo area. “People buy SUVs because of the cargo space at the back,” Lee says. “We started the Santa Fe from the side view, with a boxy profile and the widest tailgate.” The result is an SUV, “with a more rugged character than it used to be because all design started from the rear.” When designers are doing interiors, they always start from the instrument panel and console and work backward so the cargo space design becomes more of an afterthought, Lee says. But he had his team start with the tailgate area for the Santa Fe.
Hyundai also made the cargo space much larger for the new Kona that goes on sale this month with the 1.6-liter engine, followed by the 2.0-liter version expected at the end of July and the EV with a range of 260 miles in the October timeframe, says Olabisi Boyle. vice president of Product Planning and Mobility Strategy for Hyundai Motor North America.
Like the Kona, and the updated 2024 Sonata coming this year, the new Santa Fe has a “seamless horizon lamp,” a long horizonatal daytime running light that stretches across the front end. But the design has been tweaked to make it more H-like in shape, Lee says.
Morse Code
The Santa Fe will continue a recent decision to put four dots in the steering wheel, morse code for “H” for Hyundai. Most brands put their emblem on the steering wheel, but Hyundai switched to the Morse code symbol with the Ioniq 5 electric SUV and it will be on all new models going forward, Lee says. The four-dotted steering wheel is also on the new Kona, but it not lit up like it is on the Ioniq 6. The Ioniq 5 will get a light-up Morse code steering wheel for the next model year.
Another new design signature: the gearshift moves to the steering column on the new Santa Fe, as it has for the Kona and Sonata. Adding shift by wire to the column frees up console space and the position helps drivers keep their eyes on the road and hands on the wheel with less distraction, Lee says. This placement is part of the larger strategy going forward.
The Santa Fe rides on a platform that allows for a variety of powertrains: internal combustion engines, hybrids, and plug-in hybrids. We do not expect a full battery-electric version—that is territory reserved for the Ioniq family.
Work continues on the Ioniq 7 but we won’t see it until next year. And the RM20E is serving as a rolling lab for N versions of the Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6, Lee tells us. Lee says Hyundai has also given up on the idea of a midengined ICE car. As a designer he would rather focus on performance and track-capable electric vehicles.
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