Hyundai Santa Cruz will hit showrooms later than expected

Last year, Hyundai confirmed that it will build a pickup truck called the Santa Cruz. Now, reports say that the Korean marque might take some more time before it could officially launch this all-new model as they push back plans to prioritize other products.

In a report by Motortrend, the plans to launch the Santa Cruz in 2018 got set back to prioritize its car products. In addition, former Hyundai CEO Dave Zuchowski, who pushed for its production, got replaced by Jerry Flannery for failing to meet internal sales objectives according to various sources. This pulled the production of the pickup truck back to square one.

Since the Santa Cruz’s debut at the 2015 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), Hyundai’s board took two more years to give the go signal to finally develop the midsize pickup truck. With this, we’ll have to wait until 2020 to see this sleek-looking machine in showrooms alongside a few new and/or updated SUVs.

Speaking of new models, Hyundai Asia Resources, Inc. (HARI) recently launched four new vehicles at the 2018 Manila International Auto Show (MIAS), which included the all-new Veloster, the new Santa Fe, the Kona, and the Ioniq Hybrid.