Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid pricing let slip on official Australian website
Hyundai Australia has inadvertently revealed pricing for the incoming Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid large SUV after publishing the details on its website.
Set to arrive in two variants, the Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid will kick off from $63,000 plus on-road costs with the Elite variant of the large SUV, the lower of the two specifications.
Above that, the Santa Fe Hybrid Highlander will be priced at $69,550, making it the most expensive variant in the Santa Fe family.
The accidental pricing reveal has since been removed from the Hyundai site, but CarsGuide expects an official announcement soon before deliveries start before the end of the year.
This puts each electrified Santa Fe exactly $3000 above the equivalent diesel all-wheel-drive Elite and Highlander, while the hybrid large SUV will only come to Australia in AWD unlike the related Kia Sorento, which can be had in front-wheel drive.
The features and specs for each almost line up as par with their diesel equivalent, with the main differences being the Hybrid models get 19-inch aero wheels instead of 20-inch wheels, a move that’s likely to reduce unsprung weight and improve efficiency for the electric motors.
The Hybrid Highlander grade also replaces the three-seat bench in the second row for two ‘captain’s chair’ seats, meaning it becomes a six-seater instead of seven.
Both variants are powered by Hyundai’s 1.6-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine, which pairs with a 1.49kWh battery pack and 44kW electric motor, which is integrated into the drivetrain’s six-speed conventional automatic transmission.
In terms of opposition from rival brands, two are clear: the aforementioned Kia Sorento Hybrid from Hyundai’s sibling brand, and the large hybrid SUV competition from the world’s largest car brand, the Toyota Kluger Hybrid.
The latter, in GXL Hybrid AWD form that is similar in spec to the Santa Fe Hybrid Elite, is available from $63,650, while the slightly higher specification Kia Sorento GT-Line Hybrid AWD is available from $69,750.
Interestingly, the Kia Sorento is available as a plug-in hybrid variant, which starts from $80,330, while the PHEV version of the Santa Fe available overseas has been ruled out for Australia.
While the Santa Fe Hybrid was originally expected to arrive in Australia in the middle of 2021, several delays have pushed its arrival back to the very end of 2022.
So far in 2022, the Toyota Kluger leads the segment with 10,124 sales up to the start of October, excluding more off-road focused cars (like the Toyota Prado) included in the same Large SUV segment by the FCAI, with the Kia Sorento on 4928 sales as the only other electrified vehicle in the segment also leading the Santa Fe on 3302, though updated figures are soon to be released at time of writing.
