Next-gen Santa Fe powertrains will be dictated by hybrid’s success; EV unlikely

An all-new Hyundai Santa Fe is expected to debut in late 2023 and Hyundai executives have told Wheels that sales results over the next 12 months will determine the forthcoming three-row SUV’s powertrain line-up.

This kind of forecasting isn’t new, but adding the 169kW/350Nm hybrid powertrain at this late stage in Santa Fe’s lifecycle is not a typical decision.

“I wouldn't call [the hybrid’s late release] a beauty competition – but we get a chance to see how all-wheel-drive diesel, all-wheel-drive hybrid and V6 play off against each other, so we can finalise what that portfolio of powertrains would look like in 2024”, said Hyundai Australia COO, John Kett.

“I think the majority of our power trains will shift to AWD, and it's either diesel all-wheel-drive, or performance all-wheel-drive [hybrid].”

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An all-electric version of Santa Fe was also ruled out, with the upcoming Ioniq 7 large SUV to offer Hyundai customers a BEV option in the three-row SUV space.

Kett added that the current Santa Fe recipe is likely to replicate over time across Hyundai’s other segments  – likely including the much-anticipated Tucson hybrid, and even potentially Palisade.

We’ve commissioned artist’s impressions of the 2024 Santa Fe from Theottle based on spy pictures, which you can check out in more detail here.

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2023 Santa Fe hybrid supply

As for the expected mix over the current Santa Fe’s next 12-or-so months on sale, the hybrid will kick off with an initial drop of 400 units in Australia.

And while Kett was enthused about the success of Santa Fe hybrid, he declined to throw a dart at the board and predict monthly supply into next year.

“We're still going through the machinations of what that looks like an absolute volume last year. I think what we did say during the meeting, is that we felt that the V6 petrol was a really low penetration for us, and we saw this hybrid as an opportunity for us to really augment the AWD diesel.

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“So we feel like collectively, both those variants will deliver the majority of the volume over time, but we just haven't put a number on it – we can't put a number because we just can't see the supply chain."

Kia is currently able to secure around 20 related Sorento hybrids each month, both three-row SUVs share the same 169kW/350Nm powertrain with a 1.6-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder and 44kW electric motor between engine and six-speed automatic transmission.

“I haven't seen numbers similar to 20 [for Santa Fe], but I get really brave every so often when I see the production for one month”, Kett said encouragingly.

But again, Hyundai Australia was reluctant to pin-point any numbers at this point in time. More information will be on the way in 2023.