Hyundai Wants XRT Off-Road Versions of Almost Every ModelAutoblogSebastian CenizoThu, September 10, 2026 at 12:15 PM UTCAdd us on GoogleAutoblog and Yahoo may earn commission from links in this article.Hyundai's relatively recent Crater and Boulder concepts indicate that the brand wants to look, feel, and be tougher in the SUV space, and redesigns to create boxier vehicles are already being spied on the road. But there's much more still to come, reports Australian publication Drive, which spoke with Hyundai's general manager of product planning in the Oceanic country, Jonathan Lam. According to him, Hyundai is working towards making rugged XRT variants so ubiquitous that the three-letter badge becomes a sub-brand of its own. In other words, more XRT and XRT Pro models are in the pipeline.Hyundai Says XRT Will Reach Every CornerHyundai"We're considering factory-built XRT Pros or XRTs across basically any model across a range," said Lam. "Whilst we can't confirm what will be available globally from factory, we're going to take a very close look at it." Obviously, the aforementioned concepts preview the long-term direction that rugged XRT models could take, becoming more extreme than ever before, but Hyundai will also be happy to increase XRT brand awareness through more subtle means, as evidenced by the 2027 Tucson XRT, which looks more refined than the off-road-biased badge indicates. We've also already seen XRT variants of the Santa Fe, Santa Cruz, and Ioniq 5, the latter of which is an EV, so Hyundai isn't too precious about where the badge goes, as long as it's accompanied by a certain level of off-road substance. Adding body cladding, raised suspension, and all-terrain tires, plus maybe some new drive modes, isn't too resource-intensive a play. This gives Hyundai more data from which to draw in its market evaluations, teaching the brand what buyers worldwide, including in the U.S., expect when they step into a slightly more capable crossover or SUV.Autoblog's TakeAdam Lynton/AutoblogHyundai appears to be pacing its off-road ambitions, exploring which models that have not yet been made more capable should be considered for inclusion in the XRT lineup, but it's easy to tell what's already been approved; spy shots from Korea indicate the Kona will be the next to benefit. That's the smallest crossover in Hyundai's U.S. lineup after the Venue, which may be too small for XRT upgrades. At the opposite end of the lineup, the all-electric Ioniq 9 three-row SUV also hasn't received an XRT trim yet, but we've seen development mules. These will pave the way for the future of XRT, which, if successful, may someday get standalone off-road models inspired by those concepts we mentioned earlier and aimed directly at the likes of the Jeep Wrangler.AdvertisementAdvertisementThis story was originally published by Autoblog on Sep 10, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Autoblog as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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