DETROIT: Hyundai Motor plans to launch a pickup truck in the United States as part of a broader plan to catch up with a shift away from sedans in one of the Korean automaker’s most important markets, a senior company executive told Reuters.

Michael J. OBrien, vice president of corporate and product planning at Hyundai’s US unit, told Reuters that Hyundai’s top management has given the green light for development of a pickup truck similar to a show vehicle called the Santa Cruz that US Hyundai executives unveiled in 2015.

Hyundai currently does not offer a pickup truck in the US.

O’Brien said Hyundai plans to launch a small SUV called the Kona in the US later this year.

People familiar with the automaker’s plans said separately that Hyundai plans to launch three other new or refreshed SUVs by 2020.

So-called crossovers - sport utilities built on chassis similar to sedans - now account for about 30pc of total light vehicle sales in the US. Consumers in China, the world’s largest auto market, are also substituting car-based SUVs for sedans.

People familiar with Hyundai’s plans said the company plans to roll out a new version of its Santa Fe Sport mid-sized SUV next year, followed by an all-new 7-passegner crossover which will replace a current three-row Santa Fe in early 2019 in the US. A redesigned Tucson SUV is expected in 2020, people familiar with Hyundai’s plans said.

Hyundai’s US dealers have pushed the company to invest more aggressively in SUVs and trucks as demand for sedans such as the midsize Sonata and the smaller Elantra has waned.

We are optimistic about the future,” Scott Fink, chief executive of Hyundai of New Port Richey, Florida, which is Hyundai’s biggest US dealer, said. “But we are disappointed that we don’t have the products today.” Hyundai’s US sales are down nearly 11pc this year through July 31, worse than the overall 2.9pc decline in US car and light truck sales. Sales of the Sonata, once a pillar of Hyundai’s US franchise, have fallen 30pc through the first seven months of 2017. In contrast, sales of Hyundai’s current SUV lineup are up 11pc for the first seven months of this year.

“Our glasses are fairly clean,” O’Brien said. “We understand where we have a shortfall.”

Published in Dawn, August 23rd, 2017