Rumors that Hyundai would introduce a pickup truck to the U.S. market have swirled for years, but they always seemed to fall just short of reality. The rumblings typically centered around a full-size model, a bold and ballsy shot across the bow of the Detroit Three, yet at the 2015 Detroit auto show, Hyundai surprised everyone with a unique and very much not full-size truck. It’s called the Santa Cruz, and it boasts a unibody design, a compact footprint, and a diesel engine.

View Photos MICHAEL SIMARI, THE MANUFACTURER

Neither a Proper Truck Nor a Honda Ridgeline Redux

Hyundai says that it came up with the Santa Cruz’s basic format after “intently listening to customers” and recognizing their needs, and apparently enough of those folks wanted a CUV-type vehicle with a dirt-friendly place to stash cargo. Critically, those same people didn’t want to deal with a truck’s huge size, poor fuel economy, or price. But that group has to be a tiny bunch, right, especially in the bigger’s-always-better U.S.A.? Indeed—but Hyundai’s research shows that full-size pickup purchases are decreasing both among women and the under-30 crowd and that those groups could be wooed with the right vehicle. Thus was born the Santa Cruz, one of the cooler-looking vehicles ever to be focus-grouped into existence.

At first blush, it’d be easy to write off Hyundai’s first U.S. pickup as a sort of Honda Ridgeline copy. Sure, it’s car-based—we’re told the concept is based on a current Hyundai crossover, likely the one with “Santa” in its name—and it features unibody construction, but unlike the Ridgeline, the Santa Cruz is compact. How compact? It’s smaller than Chevy’s new “mid-size” Colorado, and it’s far lower to boot. It also isn’t a proper four-door crew cab like the Honda, making do instead with a proportion-friendly extended-cab configuration with rear-hinged suicide doors.

It’s Bratty—In a Good Way

Hyundai/Kia chief designer Peter Schreyer did an excellent job curating the Santa Cruz’s design, and the trucklet belies its tidy dimensions with a burly façade. The large hexagonal grille is flanked by furrowed headlights and deeply sculptured fog-lamp nacelles. Blistered fenders feature three tie-down hooks apiece to afford hypothetical owners nearly endless cargo-securing options for stuff stacked on the roof. While a few bystanders remarked that the Cruz looks like a Subaru Baja—the Outback-based trucklet available from 2004 to 2006—we think it more closely resembles Subaru's smaller (and far older) Brat visually and in spirit.

Like the Brat, the Santa Cruz strives to provide nearly boundless practicality. To maintain a parking-space-friendly footprint, the Santa Cruz’s pickup bed is quite short but can extend to about the length of that of a mid-size pickup, or roughly five feet. The extension mechanism is particularly nifty: The entire aft section of the bed slides out like a drawer, bringing the tailgate, taillights, and rear bumper with it. (Unbelievably, this is a feature Hyundai actually is considering for production.) The bed also offers a built-in slide-out tonneau cover, as well as a plethora of tie-down hooks. In spite of what the Santa Cruz’s cab design might suggest, the truck is a genuine five-seater, making it as useful (at least on paper) for hauling people as a typical crossover.

View Photos MICHAEL SIMARI, THE MANUFACTURER

In fact, Hyundai refers to the Santa Cruz as a “crossover truck” and says that payload, maximum towing, and ground clearance weren’t huge concerns during its development. Be that as it may, we’d suggest that Hyundai perhaps avoid any mention of intentionally leaving capability on the table, especially in the ego-driven American truck market. Still, some off-road ability is baked in, thanks to available all-wheel drive, and the plastic-lined bed should repel scratches and dents with ease.

This being a concept, there is fantastical frippery everywhere. Colossal openings on each front-fender vent . . . what exactly? Certainly not the Earth’s crust–melting heat generated by the Santa Cruz’s turbocharged 2.0-liter diesel four-cylinder engine. (With 190 horsepower and 300 lb-ft of torque, however, the oil-burner sounds like the perfect match for a small pickup and is claimed to return fuel economy in the “high-30-mpg” range.) Oh, and the pizza-sized Brembo brakes with yellow-painted calipers seem perfect for the track days no Santa Cruz—concept or production—will ever take part in.

Build It Now or Be Killed With Fire

There’s no official statement as to whether Hyundai will build the Santa Cruz, but signs point toward the affirmative. In addition to the highly specific powertrain details, Hyundai dropped mention of a mysterious second powertrain option—and concept cars don’t offer engine choices. We’re thinking the naturally aspirated 2.4-liter four-cylinder is a possibility, if not the corporate turbocharged 2.0. And we’re told the trucklet would be front-drive as standard, with AWD optional. We also understand that the extended-cab look would be it for configurations, although the company is still deciding between a suicide-door configuration and a more conventional forward-hinged solution. That’s a lot of “would be” and “it will” talk for vaporware, which has us excited. If Hyundai can find the capacity at its Alabama factory to build this thing, and it can keep the base price nice and friendly (the low-to-mid-$20K range, for example), and pencil in the diesel for the U.S. market, we think it could have a novel entry to a segment the company has long been expected to enter. And doing its first U.S.-market pickup in such a friendly, nonthreatening configuration heads off concerns about wooing full-size-truck buyers. Now those whispers around the industry will turn to what GM, Ford, Toyota, and others plan to do about it.

MICHAEL SIMARI, THE MANUFACTURER

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