Hyundai in the U.S. market last year saw sales off -12%.
Hyundai Motor is teasing the New Generation Santa Fe, which will celebrate its world premiere in February before making its debut at the Geneva Motor Show in early March.
The Gen 4 Santa Fe continues the model’s global success story – no great trick – as all brands are benefiting from the rush to two-box crossovers and SUVs, with scant if any discernible styling differences.
Except for Toyota, Honda and Nissan in the U.S., automakers can’t give away a reasonably priced car. This holds for Hyundai which got beat up badly in the U.S. market last year. For the complete year, 685,555 Hyundai and Genesis branded vehicles were sold, a -12% decline as senior executives were dismissed and – what else – fleet sales expanded in a robust 17.55 million light vehicle market.
The new gen Santa Fe claims a “comprehensive package of active safety features” just like other automakers under the “Smart Sense” marketing babble umbrella. What is possibly an industry-first “Rear Occupant Alert” monitors the rear seats to detect passengers and alerts the driver when leaving the car. The Rear Cross-Traffic Collision Warning is now adding an automated braking function that is widely used in the industry as driver assist technologies multiply. To avoid the risk of collision when reversing out of narrow areas with limited visibility, the system warns the driver and applies the brakes automatically.
