All-electric Hyundai ute to offer “incredible value”

Hyundai’s imminent ute onslaught will help – rather than hinder – the brand meet Australia’s tough new emissions regulations from 2025.

And the Korean car-maker says its first ever ute will offer “incredible value” as it finally looks to fill a hole in its local line-up and take on Australia’s two top-selling new vehicles, the Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux.

One of the two new Hyundai utes on the way is expected to be a dedicated battery-electric vehicle that bucks the diesel ute trend and slots into the growing IONIQ EV family.

That will provide Hyundai Australia with a zero-emissions option that earns it credits rather than penalties under the federal New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) due to come into force next year.

Providing an all-electric alternative to the diesel utes that dominate the Australian market will also provide a key point of difference and help Hyundai carve itself a growing slice of the ute pie.

“We so desperately recognise we want one,” said Hyundai Australia COO John Kett about the soon-to-arrive ute. “We know we’re getting one, it’s a matter of time.”

While he refused to go into details about the first Hyundai ute – or utes – Kett did confirm that it/they would take a very different form to what Australians have come to expect from their load-luggers.

“We won’t see one in a diesel form, we know that,” he said.

Kett’s confirmation means the new Hyundai ute/s will help lower the Korean brand’s fleet-average CO2 emissions in coming years, potentially even providing emissions offsets to other vehicles.

“When it comes it will certainly accelerate or underwrite our NVES needs by 2030,” said Kett, who also spoke of “opportunities” for sales growth in the broader market as it shifts to electrification.

Having a ute that can help lower a brand’s overall CO2 emissions will no doubt pique the interest of brands currently selling utes, some of which look likely to leverage other models in their respective ranges to offset the higher emissions of diesel-powered utes.

Kett also sees the electric ute as a chance to tackle the ute segment differently.

“It’s our real chance for us to challenge some of the fortress brands… trying to keep a distance from the turbulence that will come from the new entry brands,” he said, referencing the imminent influx of utes from Chinese brands.

The big question is what form the Hyundai utes will take.

The all-electric model that appears to be all but confirmed behind the scenes is likely to fall into the IONIQ family wearing either one of two recently trademarked names: IONIQ T7 or IONIQ T10.

That in itself is significant because the IONIQ sub-brand is only applied to battery-powered Hyundais that were designed from the outset as EVs and are produced on a dedicated EV architecture.

EVs that are adapted from petrol-engined platforms – such as the Kona Electric – often utilise the donor car’s name.

So don’t expect the T7 or T10 to share anything with the all-electric version of the 2025 Kia Tasman, which will be based on a ladder-frame chassis when it arrives in 2026.

Instead, the Hyundai ute will utilise the new Integrated Modular Architecture (IMA) dedicated-EV platform.

The second-generation EV architecture will replace E-GMP, which underpins everything from the Hyundai IONIQ 5 and Kia EV9 to the Genesis GV60.

At the 2023 Hyundai investor day headed by company president and COO Jaehoon Chang, Hyundai said the new IMA architecture “encompasses nearly all vehicle classes, ranging from small and large SUVs to pick-up trucks, along with the flagship models of the Genesis brand”.

Of course, Hyundai has another ute option: the Tucson-based Santa Cruz sold in North America.

The smaller lifestyle-focussed dual-cab is less about lifting heavy things and more about looking the part and being easier to drive around the suburbs – which could make it suitable for Australia, where Falcon and Commodore utes previously dominated.

While Hyundai has previously said the Santa Cruz was not available for Australia, the door to its introduction appears to have been cracked open.

When quizzed on the Santa Cruz last year, Kett asked people to “be patient”, rather than denying it was a chance for local release.

“Maybe over the next 12 months we’ll be able to say definitely one way or the other,” he said in July 2023.

If the Santa Cruz were to be green-lit for Australia, there’s every chance it would be available with a hybrid powertrain – further helping Hyundai’s CO2 cause.

Sharing much of its underpinnings with the Tucson means a hybrid system would be ready to go, and you could expect an iteration of the brand’s familiar 1.6-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine matched to an electric motor.

Of course, all of this is speculation for now, but what is known is that Hyundai is edging closer to filling one of the gaping holes in its model range – with something that has serious sales potential.

The prospect of electrified utes providing eco-friendly alternatives to the diesels that dominate sets the stage for an intriguing battle in the ute market – especially with the imminent arrival of the BYD Shark, among other fresh options from Chinese brands.

*New Hyundai Santa Fe pictured at the top

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