In what feels like another story on the death of the station wagon, Hyundai is reportedly going to be phasing out the Santa Cruz pickup. As reported by Automotive News, Hyundai plans to replace it “with a larger model engineered to have wider appeal.”
The Santa Cruz was a new take on the Subaru Brat or, for you fans of American iron, the Ford Ranchero and Chevrolet El Camino. Today, we have the Ford Maverick, which doesn’t elicit any romantic notions because it doesn’t look like a car with a bed in the back—business up front, party out back, if you will. And it’s that Blue Oval pickup that has ruined the Santa Cruz’s chances of survival, it seems, as Car and Driver says the Korean was outsold by the American by more than six to one in 2025. The periodical adds that the Santa Cruz has about five months of inventory, which means production for 2026 will be scaled back for the time being.
Of course, the unibody Santa Cruz is based on the Tucson crossover, which has not had any sales issues. But this announcement hurts a bit because there is something to appreciate in the variety of vehicles that are available in the marketplace. Perhaps a market without a car-based truck that still looks like a car appears to be a quaint notion, but fans of Detroit iron tend to think like that.
Car and Driver says that Hyundai’s future plans should include a body-on-frame fighter in the mid-size segment (read: Colorado, Ranger, and Tacoma), which is new territory for Hyundai. Expecting more of a Ridgeline competitor too? We have a few years to see what Hyundai whips up, so for now, let’s bow our heads and pay our respects
