A Hyundai ute 'has to be electric': Dual-cab pick-up might rival Ranger and HiLux, but it won't be diesel or petrol!

A senior Hyundai company executive has all-but confirmed that any new-generation dual-cab pick-up truck to be sold in Australia or the US will not run a traditional petrol or diesel engine.

Thomas Schemera, ​​Hyundai’s global chief marketing officer and head of customer experience, told Australian media at an event in Korea that the brand couldn’t justify developing a new-generation ute running on conventional internal-combustion engine tech at this stage.

That might sound like the brand has ripped up the plan to make a ute at all - but the real story is that Hyundai will instead look to shake up the market with an entrant that is built off an electric or electrified architecture instead.

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“I know that I have had many discussions with the Australian market, and I know that there’s a big demand for that - and I really respect that,” said Mr Schemera.

“But to start developing vehicles on ICE (internal combustion engine) basis doesn’t make any sense.

“This case we have to shift … our way of thinking, and offering fully electric vehicles,” he said.

Mr Schemera wasn’t ready to announce any further specific details on the brand’s ute plans, but he said the company - and the team working on the electric vehicle products within the Ioniq line, in particular - are enjoying the challenges that come with trying to make a ute what it needs to be, while also being efficient and smart in other ways. 

“This is a different typology, and a different task for us - you know, weight, size, aerodynamics, assets, user experience - this is not that easy to realise that, but we have ideas how to do it, but nothing has been decided.

“We have freedom of thinking out of the box, on a regular basis, and this makes a lot of fun,” said Mr Schemera.

“In our long-range plan, we have many many strategic products, I would say. We have a lot of things in the pipeline,” he said of the plan for the expansion of electrification to models beyond sedans and SUVs. 

“Nothing has been confirmed yet, but I can imagine if there is a way to showcase and to compose vehicles like that - for example, for Australia, or for the US - we make it happen.

“It is not all about the business case. It’s also pioneering; trying things out; setting trends; creating trends; seeing the opportunities rather than the risks,” he said.