This is my first look at the new Hyundai Tucson, due to go on sale late in the first half of 2021. It's a pre-production model, for visual display only.

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A heavy commercial burden attaches to Tucson. It’s Hyundai’s top-selling model, totalling seven million units in traffic so far. That’s since 2004. Seven million - so if you parked them all nose-to-tail they would encircle the earth. That’s a lot of Tucsons. (Roughly one for every resident of Arizona...)

And this one is the 4th Generation - it’s a little bigger but, frankly, a lot more polished. Just don’t be breath-holding on this. Not yet. This report is just a tease, of sorts. We won’t get this new Tucson in Straya until late in the first half of 2021.

Of course, the principal design challenge with all new models is instantly to make the outgoing one look just a little bit crap - because nothing motivates an otherwise happy owner to upgrade more than an injection of new hotness on the showroom floor. And in this respect, I think they’ve knocked it out of the park. It’s definitely a head-turner. And it makes the outgoing one look instantly obsolete.

Apparently there’s that new CVVD technology as well - the continuously variable valve duration thingo, which is quite clever because it improves combustion efficiency across a range of operating conditions and punts fuel economy to the next level without compromising refinement or power delivery. So that’s quite a neat thermodynamics hack.

You can expect the full safety suite with new Tucson, which is to say: top-shelf crashworthiness - including, probably, that new headbutt-preventing centre airbag between the seats at the front, plus (sadly) all of the borderline annoying, false-positive-overdosed crash prevention stuff, which is there principally to hump ANCAP’s leg so enthusiastically, in pursuit of five stars. All the carmakers are doing this lately, not just Hyundai. An unfortunate and annoying sign of the times.

The interior is rather gorgeous. The exterior is edgy. Not everyone’s gunna be infatuated with the sharp angles.

So, basically, I think new Tucson, when it lobs, is going to make some competitors - notably X-TRAIL, CR-V, RAV4, maybe even CX-5, and certainly Sportage - look old. It’s a super-competitive segment, so they’ll need to be sharp with the price. But if you’re in the market for a five-seat SUV and you’re not up against the pressure of time, I’d give it four or five months. Because this is a segment disruptor right here.

I’ll keep you posted when I know more.

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