Hyundai Palisade to take on Toyota Kluger

The all-new Hyundai Palisade eight-seat SUV will be unveiled at the 2018 Los Angeles motor show on November 28, providing the brand with a larger three-row soft-roader than the Santa Fe.

Although Hyundai is only revealing teaser shots of the vehicle until its global premiere in the USA – also its primary market – it's understood the new design will be brasher and bolder than what we've seen from Hyundai in the past.

The Hyundai Palisade is expected to draw inspiration from the Hyundai Grandmaster concept (pictured).

Few official details have been released thus far, but the Hyundai Palisade – which is named after the Pacific Palisades beachside suburb in southern California – will go on sale in the US by mid-2019.

Unfortunately for Aussies, this big US-centric crossover will only be manufactured in left-hand drive (LHD), making it unlikely to be sold here.

Despite three-row soft-road wagons  such the Toyota Kluger and Mazda CX-9 selling in strong numbers in Australia, the costs associated with engineering the vehicle for right-hand drive (RHD) are likely too high to warrant the factory tooling required.

"It's not available in RHD – it's aimed chiefly at the US market," said Bill Thomas, Hyundai Australia's external affairs general manager.

"We'd be keen to have it if it was RHD. We'd be very interested in that, but it's just not happening," he said.

The 2020 Hyundai Palisade will ride on the same monocoque chassis – based on the platform from the Santa Fe and Kia Sorento – as the Kia Telluride, which will also be launched by mid-2019 as LHD-only 2020 model in the US.

Both models are expected to be offered Stateside solely with a transverse 3.5-litre V6 petrol-electric hybrid powertrain.

Despite the Hyundai Palisade having Buckley's chance of coming to Australia, there's hope for an even bigger and more rugged eight-seat SUV coming to Oz from both Hyundai and Kia, giving both Korean brands their first direct rival for the Toyota Prado.

Hyundai plotting Toyota LandCruiser rival

"We are interested in the car. We want to import this one. We keep providing the rationale as to why we need this SUV,” Hyundai Motor Company Australia CEO, JW Lee, previously told motoring.com.au.

"It’s yet to be determined for our market [because] we need to prove we can sell enough of these cars here. We need a business case but there is definitely a lot of opportunity here for a large SUV.”

As previously reported, the rugged off-road Hyundai and Kia wagons could be based on a more durable ladder-frame chassis shared with the first one-tonne pick-up from both brands -- in the same way the Toyota Fortuner and Ford Everest are based on the HiLux and Ranger respectively.

The sister brands’ first full-size SUV and ute could be powered by anything from their existing 2.2-litre four-cylinder CRDi turbo-diesel, to the group’s 5.0-litre 'Tau' petrol V8 or perhaps an all-new six-cylinder oil-burner.

Sadly, no full-size SUV or pick-up is likely to materialise from Hyundai or Kia before 2020. In the meantime, stay tuned for more details on the Hyundai Palisade.