Words NZ Autocar | Images AutoExpress
Published 31 July 2025
Hyundai’s popular family SUV is taking on boxier styling cues for 2026.
The first images of the reimagined Hyundai Tucson have appeared ahead of its release later next year. Expect a more squared off exterior design, like Santa Fe, a high-tech interior and new hybrid powertrains.
The prototypes have been spied testing with production-relevant details. Expect a boxier aesthetic, with the latest Nexo SUV seen as a starting point.
Hyundai’s chief exterior designer, Simon Loasby, told AutoExpress that the new design language, “Art of Steel”, will again feature but it is deliberately different with each model.
Hyundai will turn up SUV capability in the new Tucson design, with a more bluff nose, a clamshell bonnet and beefy cladding around the wheelarches. DRLs extend down from the bonnet, while the main headlight sit low, just above the bumper.
The windscreen has a wraparound look while there are large upright side windows. It is a look that reminds of Santa Fe.
Read our review of Hyundai Santa Fe Hybid here.
Expect a more upright fifth door and greater luggage capacity.
Bigger, more comfortable cabin
Loasby said that the new interior would be calmer, more comfortable. Safe driving means eyes on the road, so they designed the cabin around that, not around the centre screen which they see as a distraction.
Expect new displays high up on the dash, with nine key physical buttons for the most-used controls. Loadby reckons you want controls that can be manipulated without looking away from the road.
Expect more space for the five-seater inside too.
Full hybrid powertrain
Hybrid options will take precedence in the line-up, of the mild and plug-in variety. The full hybrid combines a 1.6-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine with two e-motors. One is large and mounted in the gearbox, while the other is a starter generator. Hyundai suggests this improves fuel efficiency by almost five per cent compared with the previous system, and offers better driveability.
Expect peak torque of 380Nm, though peal power is yet to be divulged. There will be no electric variant because the upcoming Ioniq 4 has that space covered. Don’t count out the possibility of an N Tucson either.
Lots of rivals
Key competitors include Sportage, naturally, the all-new RAV4, and CX-5, though its hybrid is not due until 2027. Others include Tiguan, Terramar, Q3, C5 Aircross, 3008 and Grandland.
