2024 Hyundai Santa Fe Is Transformed With a Wild Boxy Redesign

The Hyundai Santa Fe is ditching its car-like crossover looks for its fifth generation, which is set to be formally unveiled in August of this year. Today, we got an early peak at the new machine, which in the Korean brand's own words is its latest foray into "unconventional" styling. You can be the judge of how well this irregular approach to automotive design turned out.

The new vehicle goes deep into rectilinear territory. Not talking about the state of Colorado. The updated Santa Fe features a front fascia seemingly inspired by unused graph paper, which is the least offending portion of its design, and actually looks pretty good. Taking a literal straight line to the back of the car reveals something much less attractive. The rear fascia has low-mounted taillights which stretch all the way to the rear trapezoidal fenders. Unconventional is an understatement.

Hyundai has a recent history of pushing the envelope when it comes to styling. The Ioniq 5 features similar straight-edge looks, and the Ioniq 6 is the exact opposite taken to extremes. The Korean company was bound to step a bit too far eventually. This is probably that point, at least as far as the rear is concerned.

The inside of the car isn't quite as risky as its outer sheet metal skin as it also features a rectilinear aesthetic—not all that unusual these days.

Few details on the new Santa Fe outside of its exterior and interior looks were revealed as a part of this early peek. But in terms of mechanical details, we can tell by the tailgate that the new Santa Fe will be offered with the 2.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine that the brand uses in similar vehicles, like the Santa Cruz pickup. This engine is already available in the current generation Santa Fe.

Hyundai is scheduling a full unveil of the 2024 Santa Fe in August, so expect more details then.

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