Price is right for Hyundai Santa Fe

HYUNDAI this week announced upgrades for its Santa Fe medium-size SUV, but the local importer has elected not to follow its Korean parent in reducing prices.

While the 2012 model year Santa Fe was launched with significant price reductions in Korea in July, Hyundai Motor Company Australia has introduced the more highly specified model here with no change to prices, which start from $36,990.

The latest Santa Fe features a number of cosmetic enhancements both inside and out, as well as the standard fitment of hill-descent control on all models but the entry-level SLX manual.

Exterior changes include restyled skid plates front and rear in a silver finish, a chrome tailgate garnish and a high-gloss black finish (instead of silver) to the roof rails and fog lamps on mid-spec Elite and top-spec Highlander variants.

Highlander models also gain perforated leather seat finishes and redesigned 18-inch alloy wheels.

Hill descent control – which Hyundai calls Down-Hill Brake Control – assists the driver to maintain vehicle control on steep downhill descents and is activated by a switch located on the centre console unit.

The Santa Fe range still opens with the two-wheel-drive variant launched in Australia in May, which reduced the entry point by $1000. The 2WD SLX powered by a 3.5-litre petrol V6 is priced from $36,990 plus on-road costs.

In addition to front-drive petrol-powered V6 models, a 2.2-litre CRDi diesel engine driving all four wheels is also available in all three (SLX, Elite and Highlander) specification levels.

Hyundai’s second-generation seven-seat family wagon was first released in Australia in May 2006 and represented a major improvement on the original, but the vehicle’s age has conspired to keep sales down this year.

Despite a jump in sales as a result of introducing the cheaper 2WD model, Santa Fe sales in Australia remain down by 9.6 per cent to the end of October. Although this is not much higher than the 8.2 per cent drop in the medium SUV segment, it contrasts with Hyundai’s overall fortunes as the Korean brand has grown 6.9 per cent YTD.

Santa Fe remains a distant sixth in the segment behind the Ford Territory, Toyota Prado, Toyota Kluger, Holden Captiva7 and Mitsubishi Pajero.

Hyundai Santa Fe pricing (before on-roads):
SLX 3.5 petrol FWD (a)	$36,990
SLX 2.2 CRDi AWD&nbsp	$37,990
SLX 2.2 CRDi AWD (a)	$39,990
Elite 3.5 petrol FWD (a)&nbsp	$40,990
Elite 2.2 CRDi AWD (a)	$43,990
Highlander 3.5 petrol FWD (a)	$45,990
Highlander 2.2 CRDi AWD (a)	$48,990