THE SANTA FE CLAUSE

The 2024 Santa Fe is a very capable SUV, and a surprisingly enjoyable one too, as we found out in South Korea. Question is, will it ever come to India?

- Pablo Chaterji

Remember the Hyundai Santa Fe? I wouldn't blame you if you don't, since the car was made available in limited numbers in India and then discontinued - but not before all the allocated units were sold out. Clearly, there were enough takers for Hyundai's flagship SUV (in India, anyway) back then, at a time when choice was limited. Now, however, you can't fling a stone into the automotive market without hitting SUVS of every shape and size, which begs the question will there still be takers for the latest Santa Fe if Hyundai decides to launch it here? Let's try and find out.

In the launch photographs, the new Santa Fe looked like a gigantic box, and in the flesh, it looks like... a gigantic box. This is a box with a fair amount of good old North American character, though, since it's been designed primarily for that market. It harkens back to the classic American SUVs of the 1980s, with very little by way of curves to be seen on its enormous body; in design terms, it's clear that Hyundai tore up the older car's template and threw it away.

Its face is, well, in-your-face. The H-shape that we in India first saw on the Exter takes centre stage, with the headlights, tail lights and front bumper all shaped like said alphabet, and a nice connecting line between the headlights running through the grille; the active vents up front aid in air-flow, contributing to a drag coefficient of just . , which is damn impressive for such a voluminous vehicle.