Once again the kids over at Hyundai blog have gotten hold of photos of a new Hyundai before anyone else. This time it's the 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe they've nabbed before its official debut at the 2012 New York Auto Show.
As you can see in this photo (there's a rear shot at Hyundai Blog), Hyundai has Velostered-up the Santa Fe this time around with a hexagonal grille with big, chunky cross bars. There's also a hint of skid plate and LED foglights.
It's certainly a step up, but from what we can gather from this photo, it's still got a ways to go to catch up visually to the new Ford Escape. (Who thought anyone would ever seriously use that phrase?)
kandeemann2001 says:
01:18 PM, 01/26/12
Hmmm...if you look carefully, it really looks like this image has been Photoshopped. Many of the lines appear blurred and the background looks very cloudy and digitized. And the photo of the vehicle's rear on the Hyundai blog looks the same. If you compare the front of this vehicle to some of the other recent "spy" photos, the outlines of the angles and curves visible underneath the camo don't quite fit what's in this photo. But - we'll see soon enough. I'm withholding my personal judgments until I see the actual model in April.
And as it regards the Ford Escape, I think the new Santa Fe will be stepping up in both size and class - its looking like its new competition will be the Grand Cherokee, the Highlander and the Explorer, among others.
brn says:
03:26 PM, 01/26/12
Hyundai is copying the Fusion grill, just as Ford is dumping it.
_feloniousmonk says:
05:21 PM, 01/26/12
brn says:
03:26 PM, 01/26/12
"Hyundai is copying the Fusion grill, just as Ford is dumping it."
Funny you should say that. I was going to remark, at first, on just how similar Hyundai and Ford grilles are becoming. This particular example looks kinda like Hyundai has combined Ford's past "three bar" with its current hexagonal-ly, Aston-ish grille seen on the upcoming Fusion and Taurus. Honestly, I wouldn't have been surprised in the least if the above photo was attributed as the next Edge or an Explorer refresh.
200kmiletaco says:
05:54 PM, 01/26/12
@teleiosgt
It's a private website, edmunds/insideline can do what they want, they own the website. So stop complaining.
rx400h1 says:
06:30 PM, 01/26/12
I hope that it is photoshopped. I think it's horrible, hopefully it'll look better when it debuts at the NY auto show
kandeemann2001 says:
11:50 PM, 01/26/12
@teleiosgt - I'm surprised that you even brought it up. Your post was unnecessarily rude and insulting. Having a strong opinion is one thing, but I think the idea here is to encourage the exchange of ideas and open dialog. What you wrote was a character attack, made you seem like a jerk and was completely of poor taste, so I don't blame them for deleting it.
tnooch1 says:
05:22 AM, 01/27/12
Cool. I can use the Santa Fe for exposure therapy, so that I won't be so freaked out by the Ford Edge's grill.
duck87 says:
06:02 AM, 01/27/12
Are you sure that isn't a Kia? From this angle those foglights look familiar, and the styling is amazingly clean compared to the alien fish styling of current Hyundai's.
I've always liked the Santa Fe... it's great value especially in the context of the Tucson (at that price, you may as well step up a size to the Santa Fe!)
megadethmartyr says:
12:52 PM, 02/ 3/12
So Edmunds, you guys are aware the Escape isn't in the Santa Fe's class right? Why would Hyundai, or Ford for that matter, care how the Santa Fe stack up. Midsize to Compact. Stupid comment.