"We know we're getting one, it's just a matter of time": Hyundai Australia confirms a ute is coming but will it be a small hybrid Santa Cruz or an electric dual-cab to trump the Ford Ranger, Toyota HiLux and Isuzu D-Max

Hyundai Australia confirms a ute is coming, but what it will be is still a mystery.

When queried on the topic of its long-rumoured entrant into the segment, Hyundai Chief Operating Officer John Kett, re-iterated the brand wanted a ute, but it wouldn’t be key to the challenge in front of it to stay in the top 3 automakers in the country in light of NVES and new low-cost rivals.

“We so desperately realise we want one. We won’t see one in a diesel form. We know that, we’ve made that clear, and when we talk about trying to claim a position in the top three in Australia, we can get there, we think, without a ute," said Kett.

"Whenever it comes it will bring incredible value. When it comes, it will certainly accelerate or underline our NVES values by 2030. We’ll love the day where we can actually tell you something about it. The reality is, we know we're getting one, it’s just a matter of time.”

“There’s a good chance we’ll be able to challenge some of those ‘fortress brands’ that have been in those top 3 and top 4 positions with the portfolio we have, and in the segments we’ve got, and keep some distance from the turbulence which will come from those new-entry brands.”

As CarsGuide understands it, a ‘Tucson Ute’ (known in its home market as the Santa Cruz) was shown at a recent dealer event as part of a slew of upcoming new models earmarked for our market in the coming years.

The version shown is also understood to be a replacement of the current car, which has been severely supply constrained since its launch in North America. It is thought the second-generation version will not be scheduled for launch until 2026. 

When it does, expect it to use a similar powertrain to the concurrent Tucson with a focus on hybrid power.

The brand has also filed trademark applications for vehicles called the Ioniq T7 and Ioniq T10 both thought to be electric utes of some kind, likely to be related to a Kia EV ute that has been spotted under testing.

Hyundai won’t comment further on either the Santa Cruz or the trademark filings, but one thing we can draw with some certainty is the brand won’t be getting its own version of the Kia Tasman diesel ute, which will be fully revealed before the end of the year before entering production from February 2025.

Kett explained one of the key elements of Hyundai’s strategy to keep it above rivals and to challenge even more established players was to maintain the perceived value of the brand both in terms of its EV pricing strategy and in its dealer network representation as competition heats up for forecourt space, and in the pricing of new EVs.

“They’re disturbing price,” he says of new Chinese rivals, “But they’re also disturbing the share of time we can have with investors in our [dealer] network.”

“We’re telling them: Don’t go searching for more front-end brands, because it stretches your resources and diminishes your ability to talk about customer service when it comes to that ownership experience.”

Kett also said Hyundai would not be playing the mass discount game on its long-term pricing strategy of its EV range, as it planned to give buyers confidence in the future value of their products

“We’re really cautious about what we’re doing on pricing.” he explained, “There’s some pretty innovative new rivals in the market with these Chinese entries - we need to be clear on the type of volume we need and when to make sure we meet our NVES targets so we’re not constantly re-visiting our EV pricing.”