Hyundai Motor gave media a preview of the five seat version of its redesigned, fourth generation Santa Fe SUV at an event in Seoul, as it looks to regain lost market share in key markets.
A lack of a strong SUV range has been blamed, in part, for the company’s weak performance in the US, where 2017 sales fell 12% year on year to 686,000 units, and sluggish growth in South Korea.
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The company is targeting 2018 growth of 4.5% to 715,000 units in the US.
Sales in Europe were up 8.9% to 764,416 units last year, thanks to strong demand for compact and subcompact models.
The redesigned Santa Fe replaces a six year old model and has new levels of connectivity and security, according to local reports.
It carries the new front end styling seen on the Kona compact SUV launched last year.
The new Santa Fe also offers innovative safety features such as Safe Exit Assist, which automatically locks rear doors when it senses a car approaching from the rear, Rear Occupant Alert Monitor and Rear Cross Traffic Alert.
Pre-sales in South Korea will begin on 7 February while US sales are scheduled from mid year.
Hyundai’s global sales fell 6.5% to 4,504,825 units last year, due mainly to a 31% fall to 784,000 in China due to the political fall out over South Korea’s deployment of the US’ THAAD missile defence shield.
