Hyundai Tucson News

Hyundai isn’t set to go EV-only with its N performance division and a new strategy to keep internal-combustion engines could see them gain a hybrid boost.

Hyundai is about to move to a seven-year/unlimited kilometre warranty in Australia, up from its existing five-year/unlimited kilometre item.

Hyundai is set to launch its fifth-generation Tucson in the first half of 2026 and a render published by The Korean Carblog has given us the best idea yet of how it may look.

CarsGuide’s data analytics team has crunched the numbers to find out how well popular mid-sized SUVs hold their value. This insight means you can buy a new car now knowing it’ll likely be a resale winner when the time comes to sell it.

Hyundai is the latest carmaker to soften its ambitious EV-only targets, with a new generation of Tucson and i30 Sedan reported likely for release come 2026. 

In confirming the importance of the new hybrid version of its updated Tucson mid-size SUV Hyundai Motor Company Australia’s Chief Operating Officer John Kett has already told CarsGuide, “The industry’s all about hybrid”. And the category target for the petrol-electric newcomer is clear. In the first six months of 2024 Toyota Australia sold more than 25,000 RAV4s, which puts its closest competitors in the medium SUV segment, Mitsubishi’s Outlander and the Mazda CX-5 in the shade with 14,443 and 11,920 registrations, respectively.And according to Toyota Australia roughly 95 per cent of those RAVs are propelled by hybrid powertrains, with the Japanese maker’s ‘Hybrid Synergy Drive’ tech established over multiple generations of the ground-breaking Prius before more recently filtering into the brand’s broader model range.Its hybrids have been so successful, in fact, Toyota Australia has recently confirmed along with a host of other SUV, hatch and sedan models, the RAV4 will henceforth only be available in hybrid form.Which begs the question, does the new Hyundai Tucson Hybrid have what it takes to put a dent in the RAV4 Hybrid’s market dominance?Hyundai Motor Company Australia Product Planning Manager Sam Dabestani is confident it can help Tucson win over a fresh batch of hybrid SUV buyers, telling CarsGuide, “Bringing a hybrid to our line-up answers a need in the market that a lot of our customers have had. We now have a very credible, very desirable product. “By fulfilling that requirement we are going to naturally attract a lot of hybrid buyers who maybe weren’t sold on certain competitor products.“ want the package Hyundai is offering in terms of interior design, safety, convenience, comfort; the whole package the Tucson offers but now with a hybrid powertrain. We feel that’s certainly going to attract new customers to the brand,” he said.John Kett agrees. Hyundai already offers hybrid variants of its i30 sedan, Kona and Santa Fe models but Mr Kett sees the Tucson Hybrid’s arrival as a significant opportunity.“It’s a great chance for us to up our competitive intensity in the hybrid space and at the moment people are willing to pay the price for those vehicles. So, we’re quite buoyed by that.“Why is Tucson so important to us? Because the second biggest segment in the market is mid-size SUV and if you don’t have a ute - and we don’t - the reality is this is the biggest segment for us to play in and it’s our centre of gravity in terms of us clawing back market share for Hyundai.“So, we’re really bullish on , bullish on the hybrid specification on this vehicle and bullish in terms of where Hyundai’s heading in its hybrid roll-out,” he said.

So far in 2024 it seems like barely a week goes by without a new challenger brand from China announcing its impending entry into the Aussie new car market.

Hyundai Australia Managing Director John Kett has acknowledged the Korean brand’s reduced sales volume for internal combustion (ICE) models (about 7000 units) so far in 2024, confirming the popularity of battery electric (BEV) options across the Ioniq 5 and 6 line-ups has offset that market share decrease.

Hyundai will undercut a number of key rivals with its Tucson hybrid that lands in Australian showrooms in the coming weeks.

Hyundai says affordable hybrids and new EVs will keep it ahead of rivals, new and old.