Frankfurt show: Hyundai tweaks Santa Fe

HYUNDAI'S Santa Fe gets its second freshen-up in 12 months, with the lightly tweaked family SUV hitting Australian shores in the fourth quarter of the year.

Set to make its debut at the Frankfurt motor show this month, the revised Santa Fe gains light styling tweaks, while advanced active safety technology makes its debut on the Korean-built wagon for the first time.

Depending on the grade, the 2016 Santa Fe will be offered with autonomous emergency braking, a rear cross-traffic alert, adaptive cruise control, blind-spot detection, a lane-change assistant and high-beam assist.

Hyundai Motor Company Australia public relations manager Guido Schenken said the powertrains from the existing range will carry over, and while pricing and specification will be revealed closer to launch, the safety and driving aids are “high on our list for consideration”.

Aside from the safety tech, minor changes to the look of the three-year-old Santa Fe include new front and rear bumpers, revised headlights, new wheel designs, and mildly altered tail-lights.

Hyundai is yet to divulge the changes to the cabin, but the South Korean carmaker said in a release that it would feature “ subtle design upgrades” and “new materials”.

The Australian Santa Fe line-up starts with the 141kW/242Nm four-cylinder petrol-powered Active from $38,490 plus on-road costs, while the 145kW/436Nm 2.2-litre turbo-diesel is offered in Active, Elite, Highlander and SR guise, the latter of which tops the range at $59,990.

Hyundai refreshed the Santa Fe line-up in October last year with mild styling tweaks, alterations to the suspension set-up, and changes to the pricing of some variants.

The Santa Fe has been a strong seller for Hyundai since its launch in current-generation guise in 2012, with 5035 units shifted to the end of August this year, a 14.2 per cent lift over the same period in 2014.

It is outsold by the big guns in the segment which include Toyota's Kluger, Subaru's Outback, the Jeep Grand Cherokee, Ford's Territory and the Holden Captiva 7, but it outpaces the likes of the Kia Sorento, Mazda CX-9 and Nissan Pathfinder.

The other star on Hyundai’s Frankfurt motor show stand will be the already-revealed Vision G concept, which is said to preview the next-generation Genesis Coupe.

The revised i40 will also be on show, with Hyundai confirming it will debut Android Auto in Europe from November this year, while the connectivity system will roll out to Australian-spec Hyundais in 2016.