Hyundai plotting Toyota LandCruiser rival

It’s no secret that Hyundai is plotting a big new eight-seat SUV to take on the likes of the Mazda CX-9, as evidenced by the Palisade that’s already been spied in testing and is under consideration for Australia.

But there’s another even bigger and more rugged SUV on the Korean car-maker’s product plan… and like the one-tonne ute to rival the all-conquering Toyota HiLux by 2021, Hyundai Australia is eager to get it.

Given its even stronger sales potential in Australia than a soft-roader (Toyota sells more Prados than Klugers), the hard-core 4x4 wagon is being labelled within Hyundai as a rival to the dominant Toyota LandCruiser 200 Series – and it’s likely to be even bigger than the popular five-metre-long Toyota off-roader.

No name has been mooted for the full-size Hyundai SUV, and it’s not clear whether it will share the monocoque chassis of the Hyundai Palisade and Kia Telluride or a ladder chassis like serious off-road SUVs.

Either way, it will be tailored for off-roading and towing, and pitched at the same LandCruiser customer base in the world’s biggest 4x4 SUV markets including the Middle East and Australia.

Hyundai is believed to be mulling over several powertrain options for the new SUV, and one likely candidate is the Kia Stinger’s 272kW/510Nm ‘Lambda’ turbo-petrol V6, which is an odds-on favourite for the Hyundai Palisade too.

There’s also chatter that Hyundai’s ‘Tau’ 5.0-litre petrol V8 (294kW/500Nm) is on the table, and eight-cylinder power could be a must for the Middle-East market.

Australians, however, prefer diesel in their large four-wheel drives, as evidenced by slow sales of the V8 petrol-only Nissan Y62 Patrol, and that’s where things get interesting. It’s long been rumoured that Hyundai has been working on a larger-capacity turbo-diesel engine, potentially an inline six.

Although the extra-large rugged SUV is at least three-and-a-half years away from production – while the Palisade will be launched in the USA in 2019 – there is already simmering demand in many global markets, Australia chief among them.

Hyundai Motor Company Australia CEO, JW Lee, told motoring.com.au he wants the big SUV available to Aussie buyers.

“We are interested in the car. We want to import this one. We keep providing the rationale as to why we need this SUV.

“We ask them frankly and honesty that we want this SUV in our market. Please develop this large SUV for our market,” he said.

It’s not clear how many of the big-Berthas Hyundai would need to sell in Australia to establish a business case, but if the bigger new Santa Fe sells strongly here it could help the cause.

“It’s yet to be determined for our market [because] we need to prove we can sell enough of these cars here. We need a business case but there is definitely a lot of opportunity here for a large SUV [from Hyundai],” said the Hyundai Australia CEO.

“I am continuously providing information such as the price ranges that are required but this takes time. The decision making doesn’t happen instantly,” he added.

The other big market, the Middle East, is a left-hand drive market and Lee said that it would help if other right-hand drive markets requested the vehicle.

“If I can get more support that would help, yes. If we can increase total volume size it’s helpful,” he said, before cautioning that South Africa, for example, has very different safety standards.

The Korean importer is also interested in the less adventurous Hyundai Palisade, but it’s understood the US-built vehicle is not as high a priority given that the company already has the Santa Fe seven-seater.

Lee explained that having a flagship off-road 4WD would provide Hyundai with plenty of sales impetus and that it would be a proper busher-basher to take on the Toyota LandCruiser: “Yes you can take it in the bush.”

Do you think Hyundai Australia would attract LandCruiser 200 buyers with a big, rugged SUV? Have your say in the comments section below.