Toyota RAV4 Hybrid hunter will be offered in multiple variants alongside petrol and diesel versions of popular mid-size SUV
Australia’s most popular SUV and the nation’s top-selling hybrid vehicle, the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid, will face some stiff new competition from the first half of 2024 when the Hyundai Tucson Hybrid goes on sale Down Under.
Long sought after by Hyundai Australia, the Tucson Hybrid will arrive here after a facelift that was spied testing in Europe recently.
The first hybrid version of Hyundai’s mid-size SUV is expected to be offered here in multiple model grades alongside the petrol and diesel Tucson variants already on sale in Australia.
Australian buyers have embraced petrol-electric hybrid tech, with market leader Toyota selling more than 70,000 petrol-electric vehicles in 2022. In 2022, more than 70 per cent of RAV4 buyers opted for a Hybrid version.
Underlining its bullishness about the fuel-saving technology, Hyundai says the smaller Kona Hybrid compact SUV, which arrives here later this year, will become the sales leader of the new Kona line-up by the end of 2024.
While imposing caveats, Hyundai Australia product and future business chief Andrew Tuitahi said the Hybrid could achieve the same feat in the Tucson line-up.
“All of those things are subject to lots of external factors like supply, European demand and so forth. Purely on paper and based on numbers and market interest, it would make sense for the hybrid to be the predominant seller within Tucson, as it would be for Kona.”
The Tucson facelift will not only include new visuals, but will also upgrade to a new-generation Bluelink connected-car service platform with over-the-air updates, which debuts with Kona.
A new infotainment system will include wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity for all variants, plus bigger infotainment screens and instrument clusters.
The Tucson Hybrid is powered by a 170kW/350Nm 1.6-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine and a 44.2kW electric motor supported by a 1.49kWh lithium-ion polymer battery.
The Tucson Hybrid will join the petrol-electric Kona, Santa Fe and i30 sedan in Hyundai Australia’s hybrid vehicle line-up.
The facelifted Tucson – including the Hybrid – is one of six new models Hyundai Australia intends to launch in 2024. While the IONIQ 7 and high-performance IONIQ 5 N electric SUVs are confirmed, the three others are unnamed but likely to include the all-new Santa Fe.
New Hyundai Santa Fe prototype spy photo
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Keyword: Hyundai Tucson Hybrid coming in 2024