No, Hyundai hasn't decided to chase the dust in search of glory. At least not yet, anyway. What you're looking at here is a rendered version of what could happen, however, if Hyundai ever wanted to get serious about desert racing.
This magnificently modified Hyundai Santa Fe comes courtesy of a design collab between the automaker and designer Khyzyl Saleem. You might know him better as the_kyza on Instagram, and there's a good chance you've seen his work before.
The design work on this Santa Fe suits the truck rather well. It's actually impressive just how good a desert-racing Santa Fe actually looks. You've got the requisite auxiliary lighting, massive tires, and a proper set of spares set in the rear of the rig.
Gallery: Hyundai Santa Fe Built For Baja
A truck like this would look perfect alongside Honda's past desert racing effort with the HRC-built Baja Passport. Hyundai needs to build and encourage other automakers to step into the dirt.
We want to see this Santa Fe and the Honda Passport face off against more Baja-built baddies from Toyota, Ford, Nissan, and anyone else looking to go play in the dust.
Sadly, the Baja Santa Fe remains firmly in the rendered realm of imagination. Hyundai, please take note, though, as the_kyza has given you a design roadmap to follow. And we know you're looking to bring more off-road-ready models to market.
Motorsport wins help sell vehicles, after all.
Motor1's Take: There's been no mention of Hyundai forming an off-road racing team, but the automaker does take motorsport quite seriously. Perhaps a melding of the N and XRT divisions could be in order.
Then a true Baja-ready Santa Fe (or upcoming Crater?) would move from "imagined on Instagram" to "ready in the real world."
