Hyundai Palisade Announced as 2020 Flagship

The Korean automaker has revealed the name of their forthcoming flagship, set to appear for the 2020 model year. An eight-passenger SUV, the new Hyundai Palisade will take its place as king of the company’s model range.

Hyundai says the Palisade will convey a bold exterior style meant to evoke the feeling of safety and security in the SUV’s target market of parents with growing families. Its looks are likely to mimic the rectilinear lines found on the HDC-2 Grandmaster, a concept car that debuted earlier this year at the Busan Motor Show in Korea.

The concept SUV’s narrowed headlights perch on the upper corners of an enormous egg-crate grille, which is itself bookended by even more illumination. A similar look currently adorns the Kona and new Santa Fe crossovers, offering big clues toward Hyundai’s future design language for all its SUVs.

The Palisade will likely share many of its bones with the lantern-jawed Kia Telluride, a corporate cousin introduced earlier this year. Also featuring three-rows of seating, that manufacturer promised a V6 engine under the hood, so it’s a safe bet one will appear in the Palisade as well, at least as an option. Hyundai has been investing heavily in hybrid technology recently, so a powerplant with that capability is certainly not out of the question. The availability of all-wheel drive is a certainty.



In past years, a confusing array of Sport and XL suffixes were appended to the Santa Fe model name to distinguish between two- and three-row Santa Fe trims. By introducing the Palisade, Hyundai smartly carves out an exclusive name for its biggest machine, a stance it abandoned when it dropped the Veracruz in 2012. Expect the three-row Santa Fe to disappear, although that detail has yet to be announced.

Competition for the new Palisade will include models like the Ford Explorer, Honda Pilot, and Toyota Highlander. All of those machines can stretch their sticker price well into the $50,000 bracket and pushing the envelope of $60,000 for certain high-zoot models. Expect the Hyundai to follow a similar path. Some outlets are pegging it as a Tahoe competitor but all signs point to the Palisade being a unibody machine on front-drive architecture with a transverse engine. That is worlds away from the Tahoe.

Global media will see the Palisade for the first time at the Los Angeles Auto Show on November 28^th. This car is the latest salvo in an onslaught of new products from Hyundai who, with this new Palisade, will have introduced no fewer than ten all-new or redesigned vehicles in the past twelve months.

The Palisade will be available next summer.



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