Hyundai promotes an “amazing” new pickup truck.

Although Hyundai has been selling the Porter for nearly half a century in Korea, the brand is not widely known for pickup trucks. That began to change in 2021 when the cab truck was joined by the Santa Cruz, a compact unibody pickup truck. There are more workforces on the way, one designed with another automaker and the other an in-house effort.

A midsize pickup developed by General Motors for Central and South America is currently in the works. Separately, Hyundai It is developing its own midsize truck, and plans to launch it in North America before the end of the decade.

We’re now learning about the model heading to Australia, and the company’s local CEO is already building anticipation for this model Ford Ranger competition. The unnamed truck will be an in-house project without GM involvement and will ride on a body-on-frame platform. While it’s too early to tell if it will share anything with the North American model, Hyundai Australia’s CEO is already hyping the matter.

Talk to Australian journalists at CarExpert and DrivingDon Romano didn’t hold back, saying it would be “amazing, it would be amazing.” He also hinted that the ladder-frame truck wouldn’t just be a rebadged GM product or a Kia Tasman with a Hyundai badge:

“We could easily take another platform and go out there and rename it, and that’s not acceptable, especially now.”

Power will come from “a different type of hybrid,” but “not necessarily a plug-in hybrid.” This is likely a vague reference to an extended-range EV setup, where the gasoline engine acts only as a generator. In such systems, the vehicle behaves like an electric car since the internal combustion engine is not mechanically linked to the wheels. The ICE charges the battery, which then powers the electric motors that move the wheels.

Hyundai recently committed to development Long range electric cars (EREVs), joining brands like Scout Motors from Volkswagen and Ram from Stellantis. The first EREV will arrive in 2027, offering more than 600 miles (966 kilometers) of combined range along with EV-like performance and refinement. This technology, designed for large, heavy vehicles, appears to be ideally suited to medium-sized trucks.

But the competition is fierce. Toyota just revealed Hilux ninth generationand a wave of Chinese pickup trucks is challenging established players. Romano believes Hyundai can stand out in the crowded segment by offering “unique technology.”

The company hopes to secure a slice of the midsize pickup pie when its new truck arrives later this decade: “Yes, we’re late, but we’ll come back stronger.”