The spy shots of Hyundai Tucson facelift were papped in China – Debut is expected sometime later this year
Palisade is the flagship SUV under Hyundai brand. It shares its platform with Kia Telluride. Both of these are on sale in North American, European markets and a few more. Palisade is the premium of the two and has a distinct design language with a premium appeal than Telluride.
Now this same design language from the more premium and two segments above Palisade is spotted on a Tucson facelift. In Hyundai’s hierarchy, Tucson is placed below Palisade, with Santa Fe in between. Hyundai seems to be taking a top-down approach in passing design languages. Tucson’s original wild design is now passed down to Creta facelift.
2024 Hyundai Tucson Facelift Spied
2024 Hyundai Tucson facelift test mule is spotted in China. There is a possibility of it being a China-exclusive model too. The Chinese market has an appetite for premium-looking vehicles at a lower price and this fits the bill perfectly. Let’s take a look.
For starters, Palisade’s design language is not completely carried over to Tucson. The spy shots reveal squarish LED elements doubling as DRLs slightly on the inside towards the centre. On Palisade, this is where a thick chrome strip runs about, engulfing its parametric grille design. While its LED DRLs are housed on the outside, accentuating its width.
That said, headlight elements are vertically arranged and positioning of headlight assembly is similar in both vehicles. 2024 Hyundai Tucson facelift had camouflage cladding and featured two circular cutouts at the bottom. These are likely to be projector fog lights, which are missing in Tucson launched in India last year.
One interesting thing to note is that this test mule spotted in China, had alloy wheels identical to the ones found on Alcazar in India. These are 18” in size, clad with 215 section tyres. But the ones found on Tucson in India, are 18” too, but are clad with 235 section tyres. Other changes visible are with its taillights. These seem to be slightly different from outgoing ones.
Specs & Features
Currently, Hyundai Tucson in India is offered with a 2.0L petrol engine making 154 bhp and 192 Nm and a 2.0L diesel engine making 184 bhp and 416 Nm. A sole 6-speed torque converter automatic transmission is offered as standard. 4WD is only offered with top-spec diesel variants.
In China, Hyundai offers a 1.6L turbo petrol engine option too which isn’t offered in India. On the inside, Tucson gets a decently kitted-out package. Same is likely to be carried forward with the facelifted model. All the safety tech offered with Tucson like ADAS will be carried over too. Launch might take place by year-end and India might get this in 2024.
