Hyundai Latest Maker Hoping to Gain Truck Ground on Ford, GM

by Michael Strong

Published: January 30th, 2026

hyundai latest maker hoping to gain truck ground on ford gm

Pickup trucks are big money for Ford and General Motors as they dominate the U.S., but Hyundai is making changes to its product portfolio in the next few years looking to get a bigger piece of the pie.

The top two selling vehicles in the U.S. each year — and every year for several decades — have been Ford and Chevrolet full-size pickups. Ram’s lineup was previously the third bestseller until recently. Ford and GM’s midsize and small pickups are also big sellers, and Ford’s truck business alone would be the fifth largest seller if it were its own company.

Several automakers have been looking to get a piece of that lucrative pie, and recent media reports suggest Hyundai is hoping to gain some ground on the segment leaders with a new midsize pickup in the near future.

Hyundai is preparing to end production of its Santa Cruz small pickup sometime in the next 12 months, according to Automotive News. The Santa Cruz rides on the Tucson crossover’s platform with a four-foot bed on the back. Aimed at young buyers in urban areas who occasionally needed a truck bed to run to home improvement stores or transport outdoor sports equipment, its features a unique design reminiscent of the car-like Chevrolet El Camino from the 1970s.

It was introduced in 2021 alongside the Ford Maverick, which features a more conventional exterior design, and has been second to the Blue Oval’s offering from the start by a three-to-one ratio. Hyundai’s new plan, according to Automotive News, is the cut it, coming back with a midsize pickup in mid-2029.

Hyundai’s one of many that have taken a stab at expanding in the smaller end of the market. Stellantis’ Ram brand is reportedly developing a small pickup truck. The company already produces a small pickup for Mexico and South America, the Ram 700. The Dodge brand once offered a midsize pickup, the Dodge Dakota, that sold well for several years before the segment faded until GM revived it with the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon.

Last summer, Toyota confirmed it was readying its own small pickup truck, one official telling MotorTrend, “Decisions have been made. The question is when can we slot it in. It’s not a matter of ‘if’ at this point.” It’s expected sit below the midsize Tacoma, one of the industry’s stalwarts in the pickup segment.

Even burgeoning electric vehicle maker Slate went with a small truck design for its first-ever product, which isn’t in production yet.

[Images: Hyundai, Ford, Slate]

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#Hyundai #PickupTrucks #Ford #Chevrolet #Toyota #Slate

Michael Strong

Michael Strong has spent more than 25 years writing about the automotive industry. A Detroit-area native, he’s written about everything from local car shows to product reviews to financial news. Currently he writes and edits for a variety of national and local publications. He’s also a longtime member of the Automotive Press Association and the International Motor Press Association, and a graduate of Georgia Southern University. Hail Southern! Despite a love for ’70s land yachts and BMWs from the late ’80s and early ’90s, his personal vehicle is neither of those.

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5 of 41 comments

JMII on Feb 02, 2026

As a Santa Cruz owner I have no idea why Hyundai thinks going mid-size is going to help. One of the main reason I bought my SC was because it was SMALL. I was about a week away from buying a Ranger when the SC launched and it was like they read my mind in terms of power, size and features. I love my SC, its basically perfect - but given how poorly it sold vs the Mav its clear other's didn't feel the same way. Spec wise the SC and Mav are identical, especially in the mid-range trim levels. The biggest difference was Ford offered a cheaper hybrid where Hyundai went upmarket with non-truck styling and targeted younger buyers who can't afford a $40k "life-style" vehicle. When people think "truck" they don't think Hyundai. They continue to offer fake off-roaders with these XRT packages that don't fool anyone. While the Mav isn't any more truck then a SC people automatically give Ford the win due to their excellent truck reputation. And Hyundai's dealerships didn't help, they are clueless when it comes to configuring a SC to tow.

1 Reply
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- Jeff on Feb 02, 2026
  
  JMII--Discontinuing the Santa Cruz is a mistake there is more than enough room in the compact truck market for competition. Hyundai could still offer a hybrid and a less expensive version of Santa Cruz. Midsize is not the answer especially in the crowded midsize truck market that is a more competitive field.
  
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- JMII on Feb 03, 2026
  
  Jeff - the market is there but apparently Hyundai is done chasing it. The rumor was always the SC production was limited to 30k units per year due to sharing a production line with very successful Tuscon. However maybe that wasn't true as Hyundai has given up after selling this same number of units for 4 years while Mav sales have rocketed to 155k per year. The SC forums were full of people begging for a hybrid. Hyundai never advertised the SC and when it launched they focused on the $40k top end model (which I bought) where Ford focused on the $20k hybrid. They never recovered from this mistake.
  
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Jeff on Feb 03, 2026

Hyundai and GM did agree to a joint venture so could this mean a midsize Hyundai truck that is a rebadged version of the Colorado/Canyon?

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- Slavuta on Feb 03, 2026
  
  Management will decide that. Leave it to them.
  
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