Hyundai Says The New Tucson Is 'Very Interesting Visually'

Usually, when you ask an automaker about a future product, you get an automatic, "We don't discuss future products" or a curt, "No comment." Hyundai, on the other hand, is the opposite leading up to the reveal of the next-generation 2021 Tucson, dropping nuggets of information here and there. The latest comes from a Which Car interview with Andrew Tuatahi, Hyundai's product planning manager, where he calls the Tucson "very interesting visually." This follows Sangyup Lee's, Hyundai Design Center's vice president of styling, earlier comments that the Tucson's exterior design will "freak out" people.

Tuatahi goes on to say that the crossover's style and design will be the "biggest shift" for the model with materials used in line with that of the Hyundai Santa Fe. The Tucson will also feature a revised interior layout and configuration, adding the instrument cluster and entertainment controls could be different.

What's crazy is the Tucson isn't that old. The fourth-generation debuted for the 2015 model year, making the current offering just a few years old. A lot has changed with cars in the last four years as have customer expectations. The updated Tucson will offer the safety features customers expect to be standard while the company meets new crash test criteria.

Spy photos show the 2021 Tucson attempting to hide its new design, but not even camouflage can keep it all hidden. Test vehicles our spy photographers have spotted feature a bold grille design with thin-slit lights pushed to the top corners of the upright, "Cascading" grille. Additional lighting elements are tucked into the bumper. This front-end design mimics that found on the Palisade, Venue, and Santa Fe, though it appears the Tucson will get its own variation of the design.

For as much as Hyundai is talking about the upcoming Tucson, there's information the automaker is keeping close to its chest. Which Car couldn't get Tuatahi to reveal which platform the new Tucson would be riding on, which could have provided a hint about the possibility of future hybrid-assisted powertrains. Instead, we'll have to wait for the reveal that's scheduled for sometime next year.