Hyundai pushing for more hybrid SUVs

Hyundai is set to fire a fresh salvo in the hybrid SUV space, announcing this week that it is “fighting hard” for additional green high-rider options.

Toyota has set the pace for hybrid technology in Australia, particularly with its strong-selling RAV4 Hybrid. Now others including Hyundai and Ford are circling, in the forms of the upcoming Santa Fe plug-in hybrid and Escape plug-in hybrid respectively.

At the launch of the new Hyundai i30 Sedan in Sydney this week, officials said they were scoping additional hybrid SUV models in Australia.

“We’re looking at what we can do with hybrids,” said Hyundai Australia product planning manager Jonathan Lam.

“We’ve already confirmed Santa Fe next year, and we’re in the hunt to confirm some others. We’re still confident with our environmental charge, we’ve got some really significant activity in the electric space.

“We see it as an opportunity. That’s why we’re getting it on Santa Fe, we’ve been pursuing that hard. We’re looking at what we can do with the passenger cars at the moment, but still under study.”

Chief among Hyundai’s potential options is a hybrid version of the Kona small SUV, as well as the new Hyundai Tucson mid-size SUV, which is set to land in Australian showrooms in the first half of 2021.

Hyundai’s Australian prospects will be heavily dependent on whether there is demand for such vehicles in other right-hand drive markets including the UK.

And further down the line, hybrid allocation could be predicated on future CO2 regulations in Australia; as it stands, there are none outside a voluntary industry code.