SUV. One term which not many will associate the Korean giant - Hyundai with. It is that segment of the auto industry which is tantamount with big, brawny, imposing looking machines to which the word 'car' will not really be able to do justice.
Hyundai was one of the first to sight the growing potential of the SUV segment and introduced Terracan. Result? It failed to capture the imagination of the buyer. Reason? Price and brand image. Also that it was not really all that great a car! Hyundai thought about it, phased it out, and drove in with another SUV - Tucson. A good car this, which was aimed at beating Honda's CR-V at its game. Result? The same as Terracan's.
You see, Honda has more snob value than Hyundai and at 12-13 lakhs, people become increasingly conscious about their image. Why else do you think that SUVs like Honda CR-V and Ford Endeavour have been selling more than Tucson? Your guess is as good as ours.
Terracan - the Pajero-based SUV is history, and so will be the Tucson when Santa Fe enters India to try its luck at establishing Hyundai with the image of a maker of capable and desirable SUVs.
Hyundai has no dearth of engineering capabilities and is one of the auto-makers which has been upping its ante all this while. The Santa Fe is a testimony to this statement. Alluring, in-yer-face, dynamic, aggressive are adjectives that will fail to describe the curves and flowing desing elements of this SUV.
It is big and that imposing grille with an "I-am-bored" look will only add to its character. The gradually rising waistline makes the rear look a little odd though. The flared wheel-arches will house massive wheels. Hyundai plans to import the Santa Fe in India and will offer a delicious 2.2-litre, 148bhp diesel motor which might be tuned to suit Indian fuel quality.
This SUV is going to be as bang up-to-date as the intelligence reports of the US of A! Expect some tension at Honda and Ford camps when Santa Fe comes in during the first quarter of 2008.
