There's a new competitor to the Ridgeline

That's funny. I was thinking it looks like fun to drive the shit outta that thing but might not end well

 

Exactly. Tomorrow is my birthday too, so gotta get my shitposting in today

 

I was thinking a 3 inch lift and 33s

 

My dad had one in powder blue. OMG the smoke from the Diesel engine. Cheech & Chong had nothing on this truck

 

Looks like Isuzu VehiCross truck edition to me.

 

Is that a little turbo diesel?

 

Not sure if it was turbo. It was a diesel though. Same as the Rabbit, but with a one piece bed. Insurance industry at the time still considered it a car because the bed wasn’t separate

 

That's fair enough, but my guess is that it's a matter of cost more than anything else. Based on the renderings and the naming convention, I'm guessing this thing will simply be an open-backed shell tacked on to the platform of their mid-size SUV (since that's the Santa Fe, this is the Santa Cruz, etc). If they wanted to develop something that even came close to competing with the Tacoma in terms of utility they'd probably have to invest tens and tens of millions of dollars to develop an entirely new platform, possibly drivetrain, etc.

And investing a ton of money developing an actual truck would be risky for a company like Hyundai. They've come a long way and their reputation now is lightyears from where it was a decade or so ago, but my guess is that Hyundai's brand people have a big old pile of research telling them that no matter how masculine it looked and how much utility it offered, a truck with their name on it wouldn't lure too many people in the market for an F-150, Tacoma, or even Ridgeline. But an SUV with an open back will beckon a few people in the market for other small SUVs, people who want something a little different, etc.

I mean, their press release language certainly makes it sound like this is going to be more a modern-day Amigo than a Ridgeline:

“Santa Cruz is for those who want all the traditional attributes of a compact utility vehicle, but need the day-to-day versatility of an open bed. It’s the crossover that creates a whole new segment that successfully combines capability and utility to meet the unspoken needs of a new generation of buyers, especially Millennials.”

 

Based on this, I assume it'll be the Hyundai version of a VW Tarok.

 

The Amigo! I totally forgot about those. I had a friend who had one. It actually had decent power. If I'm not mistaken it had a V6 and a 5 speed MT.

 

their telluride is actually pretty sweet

 

Lol. We all have our days. F it.

 

well it does have the body on frame going for it