Form & function

Hyundai has launched the new generation Santa Fe in international markets. Although there is doubt on whether the company will bring it to India or not, we got a taster of the big behemoth in South Korea

- Rahul Ghosh

Hyundai had at one point in time launched the Santa Fe in India as its flagship SUV. The Santa Fe then was a very different beast. It looked more curvaceous than boxy and at the same time was a bit conventional. Eventually, the company pulled the plug on the SUV and the Tucson took charge of being the flagship. Now though, Hyundai has launched the new generation Santa Fe in international markets, and from where we look at it, it makes absolute sense to have it in India even though the new version will be a rather expensive proposition. But why does it make sense for India? The new Santa Fe adopts the new generation Hyundai design philosophy which has moved from being curvaceous to being boxy. The front end is dominated by various rectangular design elements including the ‘H’ pattern LED DRLs as seen on the recently launched Exter. The flared wheel arches gel well with the SUV theme and so do the massive 21in alloy wheels. The blacked-out pillars endow the Santa Fe with a floating roof design and we particularly liked a few clever features punched in like the diffused ladder in the C-pillar. At the back too, the theme remains the same with the ‘H’ pattern lights taking dominant space. The flat back end also reminds one of old-school American SUVs. Overall the design of the Santa Fe is both dominant and imposing. Perfect for the Indian audience then.