LA MOTOR SHOW: Hyundai Vision T is next Tucson

Say g'day to the next-generation Hyundai Tucson.

The Hyundai Vision T is a thinly-veiled preview of the fourth-generation Hyundai Tucson, which will almost certainly be offered with a plug-in hybrid powertrain when it arrives next year.

Revealed at this week’s Los Angeles motor show, the Vision T concept sports a sleek new design with heavily chiseled flanks – just like the Hyundai Tucson spied in testing recently, although its roof line will remain rounder.

Also expected to carryover to the 2020 Hyundai Tucson, which has been confirmed for release in Australia next year, is the Vision T’s new signature headlight motif that uses a half-mirror system to hide LED daytime running lights that can pulse in various patterns.

Hyundai’s head of global design SangYup Lee made it clear the new concept car previews the next Tucson.

"You can already imagine why the name is the Vision T," he told carsales at the LA show.

Separately, Hyundai North America's vice president of national sales Randy Parker told carsales there will be minimal differences between the concept and the production vehicle, which has been signed off and will be revealed soon.

"It's a really bold design and I'll be honest, what you see here is the [production] car," he said.

"Let me say this; this is just around the corner. You'll see it sooner rather than later."

Despite the radical surface detailing, the proportions of the Vision T are very much aligned with the Hyundai Tucson, a crucial cash-cow for the brand and a vehicle that needs to compete with Australia’s top-selling SUVs in the Mazda CX-5 and Toyota RAV4.

So far this year sales of the current Tucson, which remains Hyundai’s second best seller behind the i30, are seven per cent down and now eclipsed by the Nissan X-TRAIL in the nation’s biggest single sales segment.

No details about the Mk4 Tucson’s powertrain have been released. Parker said the Hyundai Vision T was more about exposing the Tucson's new design than getting into the technical details.

The Hyundai Vision T plug-in hybrid concept measures 4610mm in length, which would mean the next Tucson will be a bigger vehicle than the current model (4480mm). The interior wasn’t revealed and items like door cameras to replace traditional mirrors are unlikely to make it into production.

Lee explained that the aggressive, angular design language will help the new Tucson stand out from the mid-size SUV crowd and some its styling cues will also feature on other future SUVs from Hyundai.

"The hidden headlamp, the parametric jewel headlamp, that is our signature detail and that will be used quite extensively in our future line-ups, but it doesn’t mean we do the same headlamps for all cars,” he said.

"We want to have a spectrum of SUV designs. The Pallisade, the mid-large SUV, needs to look rugged and bold, the [small] Venue has to have a mean bulldog character, whereas this one is very dynamic and sporty and muscular."

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