Hyundai is reportedly planning to end production of the Santa Cruz early due to sluggish sales of the lifestyle ute.
Sources have told Automotive News the original plan was for the ute to march off into the sunset during the second quarter of 2027, but the date is being moved forward. Additionally, the current production rate is being halved as Hyundai attempts to reduce the Santa Cruz’s high inventory levels.
If the report is right, it will free up capacity at Hyundai’s Alabama plant to produce more of the closely related Tucson SUV if its production is correct.
In response, Hyundai USA told the trade publication the ute’s “life cycle plans remain unchanged”.
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Given lacklustre sales of the Santa Cruz, it won’t be replaced directly. Instead the company has confirmed it is working on a body-on-frame ute that will debut before 2030 in the US.
The ute will be built in house and will become a “mid-size” model that will compete with the likes of the Toyota Tacoma, Ford Ranger, Chevrolet Colorado (in addition to GMC Canyon) and Nissan Frontier. But the mid-size ute could also launch a SUV spinoff to tackle the Toyota 4Runner.
It’s unclear if this new American ute will be the model to fulfill Hyundai Australia’s long-held desire for a body-on-frame ute.
Originally published in 2021, the Santa Cruz appeared to be an excellent paper-based concept use its platform on top of a popular unibody SUV; extend it’s wheelbase and tack on trays.
That’s what Ford uses to make the Maverick ute, made from the underpinnings of the Bronco Sport and Escape.
Despite the Maverick’s name-addresse of its truck, Santa Cruz took on its unibody origins with a non-conformist style including flying buttresses and much closer relationship to Tucson it’s named after.
Also in 2021, the Maverick sparked out the gate at its first-ever launch — just under US$20,000 for the base hybrid model — with an initial cost of just below $20,000.
Ford Maverick
Though the two utes are still at US$1605 with starting prices just as different from their original counterpart, Maverick’s start for US $28-145 and Santa Cruz beginning in USUS$29,750, sales of the Santa crunch continue to be well behind its Blue Oval rival.
According to Good Car Bad Car, in 2025 the Maverick sold 155,051 units (down 1.5 per cent) to be the 19th most popular model in the US, while the Santa Cruz was down 25.2 per cent to just 23,962 sales in 141st spot.
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