With production of the unibody Santa Cruz locked-in for 2021, a new six-cylinder diesel engine has been mulled as possible powerunit for Hyundai’s yet-as-unnamed global pick-up due out in around 2023.
According to carsguide.com.au, Hyundai Research and Development Head, Albert Biermann, let slip that the new straight-six oil-burner, which debuted earlier this week in luxury division Genesis’s GV80 SUV (pictured) “can have so many applications” but stopped short of confirming it outright when quizzed by the online portal.
“As you know, we make commercial vehicles and so on, so this engine will be out there for quite some time,” he said, before adding that, “we have not finally decided yet” whether to expand the motor’s application beyond the GV80.
“It makes the smoothest power. It’s very smooth. The vibrations are less. This new platform was already considered with that engine,” Biermann said.
Aside from the engine, which produces 205kW/588Nm, the GV80’s platform’s has stirred speculation that it will be used to underpin the pick-up, in spite of Hyundai having declined to provide any specific details bar that rear-wheel-drive will be standard and all-wheel-drive optional.
Whereas the diesel will be limited to South Korea, two turbocharged petrol motors will be offered for the US-spec GV80, rumoured to be the 190kW/353Nm 2.0-litre turbo four-cylinder and the 272kW/510Nm 3.3-litre twin-turbo V6 used in the Genesis G70 sedan.
More details about the pick-up are likely to emerge in the coming months leading up to its unveiling.
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