Hyundai ‘couldn’t push any harder’ for dual-cab ute

The rumoured Hyundai dual-cab ute is becoming a bit of a running joke at Hyundai product launches, but the brand says it's still high on the priority list Down Under.

Speaking to CarAdvice at the Tucson launch, Hyundai Australia product planning manager, Andrew Tuitahi, was adamant the company is pushing hard to make it happen.

"If you want to look at product gaps that we have in the market they're pretty easy to identify. We could do better by adding a pickup, we'd love to have a bigger SUV, something bigger than Santa Fe," Tuitahi said.

Asked whether the compact Santa Cruz (pictured) ute (which has been confirmed for the American market) is on the radar for Australia, he said it was also on the wish list.

"We couldn't push any harder, and yeah it will work outside of Australia, a dual cab pickup. Huge market in south-east Asia, reasonable market in Middle East and South Africa. So, it's a tough one," Tuitahi explained.

"It's too soon to confirm what we're pushing for, but I think you can have a look at what our global powertrain offering is within Hyundai Motor Group and make some guesses as to what may work in that car – whether it's petrol, diesel or an evolution of current engines."

With performance utes hitting their stride in Australia, we also quizzed Tuitahi on whether a performance-oriented pickup would be considered by Hyundai, provided it was given the chance.

"It'll be interesting to see how the more performance oriented utes go over time, we've been watching it [performance utes] closely and looking at something like Ranger Raptor and a lot of the customer feedback about a smaller four cylinder. Seems to be a lot of requests about performance petrol as well. So you know, we'll keep a close eye on it."

Would you like to see a Hyundai dual-cab ute in Australia? And, if so, would you like it to be supported by a high performance version?

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