Hyundai ute shapes up

When Hyundai finally enters the commercial pick-up game in the next few years, its first dual-cab 4x4 ute could look like this.

New renders of the Hyundai 'Tarlac' ute show the rugged ladder-frame pick-up with a front-end design inspired by the Korean brand's big SUVs, such as the Palisade and Santa Fe.

With a bold grille and unique headlights and tail-lights, the design is something you might expect to see on the official Hyundai website.

The new Hyundai ute is expected to break cover in the next couple of years and will be offered with a range of turbo-diesel engines – four- and six-cylinder – along with a 3500kg towing capacity and one-tonne payload, matching class-leaders like the Ford Ranger.

There will also be a Kia ute based on the same platform.

The striking new renders include everything from top-shelf models to rival the Ford Ranger WildTrack and even workhorse utes. They were created by artist Enoch Gonzales, who is based in the Phillippines.

When Hyundai's second ute (after the US-built Santa Cruz soft-roader launches in 2021) finally emerges, it will attack league leaders such as the recently-leaked Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger with a powerful arsenal of weapons, including competitive pricing, warranty and servicing, not to mention the potential of a beefy six-cylinder turbo-diesel engine.

Borrowing the Genesis GV80 luxury SUV's 3.0-litre inline-six turbo-diesel would give the ute a unique selling point, as would its muscular performance.

With 204kW and 588Nm, the GV80's new straight-six diesel -- designed and developed in Korea -- would out-power today's two heaviest hitting diesel utes, the Volkswagen Amarok V6 (200kW/580Nm) and the ill-fated Mercedes-Benz X-Class V6 (190kW/550Nm).

Back in January during the launch of the Genesis GV80 in Korea, Hyundai’s R&D boss Albert Biermann said the all-new diesel six could be primed for commercial vehicles – which can only mean the new pick-up truck.

"This engine… we can have so many applications. We make also commercial vehicles and so on, so this engine will be out there for quite some time," he stated.

There's also the chance a high-performance Hyundai N ute could make the grade.

Expect to see Hyundai's 2.2-litre turbo-diesel engine making its way into the new ute as well. It generates 147kW and 440Nm in the Santa Fe.

While the US-market Hyundai Santa Cruz ute is a car-based lifestyle ute pitched as a 'sometime' off-roader, surf-mobile and camping partner, the second ute will be a bona-fide one-tonne hay-hauler designed for serious towing, load-lugging and attacking off-road tracks via a heavy-duty 4x4 system.

And while the smaller and less capable Hyundai Santa Cruz will be built in the USA at the marque's Alabama factory as part of a $US410 million upgrade, it's not yet clear where Hyundai will build the ute and it may even need a new factory to do so.

Hyundai's as-yet-unnamed pick-up is being designed and developed specifically for Australia, one of the world's biggest ute markets, but the Santa Cruz lifestyle may also come here despite Hyundai Australia's luke-warm response when it was first unveiled at the 2015 Detroit motor show.

Australian appetites for a lifestyle ute are limited, but Hyundai Australia has stated it would "…always look at the suitability for the local market".

It remains to be seen if the Santa Cruz will be built in right-hand drive but even if it is, it would be a mere sideshow to the big Hyundai 'Tarlac' dual-cab one-tonne ute.