RHD Hyundai Palisade getting closer as evaluation for India starts

The prospect of Hyundai making its flagship Palisade SUV available in right-hand-drive has taken another step towards fruition with a fresh report from India alleging that the eight-seater is under market evaluation.

Already on the radar of Hyundai Australia where it was branded last year as being 80% right-hand-drive ready, Autocar India has now indicated that the Palisade is being studied for introduction in spite of Hyundai India having reportedly branded it as not being an important model.

“Hyundai is assessing the feasibility of launching the Palisade in India. We’ll need to see which route we can take with it, if the market is ready and what kind of volumes we’d be looking at. A decision on a model like this is critical because one has to take the import duties into account, and if we choose to localise it, we would need certain volumes,” Hyundai India Director of Sales, Service and Marketing, Tarun Garg, was quoted by the publication as saying.

Currently only offered with a 3.8-litre V6 petrol engine in the United States, the lack of a diesel engine has been viewed as a possible hindrance in markets where oil-burners are favoured such as Australia and indeed India, although it is likely that Hyundai could solve this by equipping the Palisade with either the 155kW/441Nm 2.2-litre unit from the upscale Genesis G80 sedan or indeed the 205kW/588Nm 3.0-litre straight-six used in the GV80.

If indeed approved for right-hand-drive, chances are that the Palisade could well come to South Africa, but at present, more clarity is being awaited.

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