Hyundai ute future fluid

One of the more surprising stories to emerge from January's 2015 Detroit motor show was the emergence of the Santa Cruz Crossover Truck concept, which was clearly a ute but not in the traditional one-tonne sense.

Hyundai Australia has long been lobbying its head office in South Korea for a one-tonne ute to take on Toyota's all-conquering HiLux, so when the compact SUV-based dual-cab concept broke cover, the Australian connection was none too impressed.

Despite reports to the contrary, however, it appears the future of Hyundai's first ute is far from fixed, with plenty of research and development ahead for the vehicle.

"The concept car is not a preview of the production car at all -- it was designed to show intent and gauge public reaction and test the styling concept," Hyundai Australia's director of marketing Oliver Mann told motoring.com.au during last week's launch of the i30 Series 2.

"The reaction to the [Santa Cruz ute] concept was certainly positive. We think that Hyundai intends to build a ute but nothing has been announced.

"The hard product planning, the review process is ongoing internally at HMC," he said.

It's clear there's still angst within Hyundai Australia at what some have called the US arm's hijacking of the ute project to suit its own aims.

"We've been lobbying for a one-tonne forever. We're very excited by the concept as we've seen it, but what we're seeing at the moment is more a lifestyle vehicle. In Australia that's probably a smaller volume niche – it's a tough sell here," said Mann.

Australians' appetite for one-tonne utes, known as mid-size pick-ups in the US, represents huge volume potential for car-makers and even Mercedes-Benz has just confirmed it will enter the fray with a Nissan Navara-based ute.

But clearly the Santa Cruz's US design team chose not to directly take on vehicles like the Ford Ranger, which is not sold in the US, and instead tested the market for a 'lifestyle' dual-cab based not on a full ladder chassis but the Tucson's monocoque chassis.

Asked if the Hyundai Motor Company's decision makers in Korea could be swayed to adopt a traditional one-tonne design for their ute, Mann was cautious.

"We'll have to wait and see. HMC will evaluate the market opportunity globally and decide what their best configuration is to maximise volume opportunity.

"But our position hasn't changed and our dialogue with the factory is ongoing. [Hyundai Australia CEO] Charlie [Kim] was in Korea last month and the discussion within HMC as to pricing and specifications of the vehicle have not been formalised."

"From here anything could happen -- nothing's been decided," he observed.