Hyundai has dropped a teaser for a heavily updated Sante Fe with swanky new styling. The SUV has however been discontinued in India and there are no talks of it coming back.
The Hyundai Sante Fe was once the flagship for Hyundai in India. It was a very sought after SUV and it really defined its class. However, the Santa Fe never really had the commercial success in India that Hyundai had hoped for. It was thus discontinued late last year here in India. Now, Hyundai has dropped the first teaser of an all-new Santa Fe. The SUV has been heavily updated and it will first make its European debut before going on sale in other markets.
Although we do not get the Santa Fe here in India anymore, Hyundai debut the current-gen of the Santa internationally only in 2018. The mid-life update for the SUV thus seems to have come rather early. The new Santa Fe has been heavily updated and it only shares only a few body panels with the existing car. Styling is a huge departure from the current car and its already evident from the teaser.
Like with most newer Hyundais, the Santa Fe gets a massive grille up front that takes up the entire width of the car. We have seen big grilles from Hyundai but nothing quite like this. In fact, it is this new grille which defines almost the entire identity of the new Santa Fe. It also gets the split LED headlamp setup where the upper units are horizontal and they seem to merge with the vertical LED light elements on the grille. The main headlamp cluster also sits completely within the grille and the bumpers have been heavily restyled for a much aggressive look.
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On the inside, the new Hyundai Santa Fe is believed to have gained a new portrait style vertical touchscreen infotainment system, much like we have seen on the China-spec ix25 which is essentially the Creta. What’s also a big change for the Santa Fe is the platform its based on. The SUV now sits on a new third-gen modular vehicle platform that has been co-developed by Hyundai and Kia. This platform made its debut on the Sonata last year and it supports hybrid and plug-in hybrid technology. The Santa Fe thus could see such powertrains as well.
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Hyundai has sold two generations of the Santa Fe in India but low sales for the SUV eventually got it discontinued in our country. There are no talks of Hyundai bringing the Santa Fe back to India as the company does not see a huge business case for a large SUV from the manufacturer in India. Currently, Hyundai flagship and their largest SUV in India is the Tuscon. Hyundai will soon be launching the Tuscon facelift in India in the coming weeks as soon as the lockdown is lifted.
