Hyundai is pulling the plug on the Santa Cruz compact pickup sooner than expected as it prepares to launch a new midsize truck.
Insider sources told Automotive News that the automaker was originally set to discontinue the model in mid-2027, but that it will be phased out earlier than that.
The Alabama-built Santa Cruz is based on the Tucson SUV, which is Hyundai’s best-selling model and assembled at the same plant. The plant capacity used for the Santa Cruz will be reallocated to the Tucson.
The Santa Cruz launched for the 2022 model year, just as Ford released the Mexican-built Maverick compact pickup. Ford sold 155,051 Mavericks in 2025 while the Santa Cruz accounted for just 25,499 deliveries, which was down from 32,033 in 2024. According to Automotive News, Hyundai has told suppliers that it is reducing Santa Cruz production by a further 50% this year.
A Hyundai spokesperson told the news outlet only that the company’s “lifecycle plans remain unchanged” for the Santa Cruz, without confirming or denying any details in the report.
The Santa Cruz and Maverick are the only two compact pickups on sale in the U.S, but Ford is planning to launch an all-electric pickup similar in size to the Maverick with a target price of $30,000 in 2027.
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Last September, Hyundai CEO José Muñoz announced that the automaker was working on a new body-on-frame midsize truck that will compete with the Ford Ranger and Toyota Tacoma and be on sale by 2030. He didn’t say where it will be built, but with the 25% chicken tax on pickups imported from outside North America and new tariffs on Canadian and Mexican built models, it will likely be assembled in the U.S.
Hyundai doesn’t currently have a factory set up to build a body-on-frame vehicle, but is expanding its production capacity at several locations and Muñoz said the platform could potentially be used for an SUV.
