Wraps come off the striking new Hyundai Palisade

A successor to the Hyundai Palisade large SUV has been unveiled with dramatic new styling.

Leaked images shared by Autospy have revealed the next-generation people carrier has been completely redesigned with bold and blocky styling that emphasises geometric shapes, including a new rectangular front grille and vertically stacked LED headlights. It will have up to nine seats in a restyled cabin with dual 12.3-inchscreens and a gear selector located on the steering column. The “H” badge has been dropped from the steering wheel; instead, four dots denote the letter "H" in Morse code.

Full technical details are not yet available but, as with the recently launched new Santa Fe, the larger Palisade will be available only with petrol turbo and hybrid petrol-electric powertrains. The 2.2l turbo diesel powering the current Palisade will be no more.

The new Palisade hasn’t yet been confirmed for the local market. Stanley Anderson, sales and operations director of Hyundai SA, says once final pricing is received from Hyundai Motor Company a viability study will be done to determine if it is launched here.

The current Palisade was introduced to SA in 2021 as Hyundai’s premium SUV, and facelifted in March 2023. It is a niche car that sold 157 units in the country last year, and is available in a single seven-seater 2.2D four-wheel drive Elite model priced at R1,204,500.

It is equipped with an HTRAC all-wheel-drive system that automatically manages power distribution between the front and rear wheels depending on throttle inputs and surface conditions. The turbo diesel engine produces outputs of 142kW and 440Nm with a claimed fuel average of 8.2l/100km.  

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