Hyundai Santa Cruz
Nameplate overview. Specifications and evidence are scoped to individual model years and configurations.
Research coverage
5 model years with exact configuration records. Latest available year: 2026, with 5 listed configurations.
Coverage may be partial. A nameplate does not have one shared engine, price, safety result or recall status across these years.
General nameplate overview
Unscoped catalog background, not specifications for a particular year or trim. Review status is unknown except for the assertions cited below.
The Hyundai Santa Cruz is a four-door compact pickup and the first pickup truck Hyundai has ever sold in North America. Previewed by a concept at the 2015 Detroit auto show and finally launched for the 2022 model year, it is built alongside the Tucson at Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama in Montgomery and shares that SUV's NX4 unibody platform, dashboard architecture and multi-link rear suspension. Hyundai markets it as a "Sport Adventure Vehicle" rather than a truck, and its natural rivals are the Ford Maverick and, from further up the size ladder, the Honda Ridgeline.
Two 2.5-liter four-cylinder engines have carried the range throughout. The naturally aspirated Smartstream unit, sold only in the United States, makes 191 hp and 181 lb-ft through an eight-speed automatic with front-wheel drive standard and HTRAC all-wheel drive optional. The turbocharged version makes 281 hp and 311 lb-ft, comes only with all-wheel drive, and used an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic from 2022 until Hyundai swapped it for a conventional eight-speed torque-converter automatic for 2026. A facelift arrived for 2025 with new headlights, grille and daytime running lights, a curved twin 12.3-inch display, restored physical climate controls and a more serious XRT trim. The trim ladder has shifted year to year — SEL Premium in 2022-2023, a blacked-out Night model for 2023-2024, XRT from 2024 and SEL Activity from 2025 — with SE, SEL and Limited constants throughout.
2026 configuration links
Related comparisons and research
Sources and review status
Source records apply only to the assertions and scopes listed below, not the entire vehicle record. Assertion review dates are not page-update dates or evidence of current prices.
Review status: Unknown. No applicable assertion source is recorded for this scope.