(By Tom Lohnes) – The crossover-based truck segment has not taken off. With the only contender being the Honda Ridgeline, possibly the most hated vehicle on the market, it’s hard to see why anyone should enter anything else in there. That said, Hyundai is trying to venture into the segment with a new “Truck” called the Santa Cruz. Surprising even to me, it looks appealing.

The Santa Cruz is definitely not everyone’s cup of tea. Being front-wheel-drive based, having unibody construction, and only having 4-cylinder engines, I can understand why people have talked down on vehicles like Ridgeline and Santa Cruz. But as of recently the Hyundai motor group has been pushing out some insanely good vehicles and I’m gonna go ahead and assume that the Santa Cruz will be no different. Likely having Hyundai’s tried-and-true 1.6-liter Turbocharged inline-4 as its base engine, it will sport at very least 175 horsepower and 201 lb.-ft of torque. The upgraded engine will likely be Hyundai’s new 2.5-liter Turbo I-4, which will be pushing an impressive 290 horsepower, and will propel the vehicle to 60 in the mid 6-second range. The Santa Cruz’s only transmissions should be a 7-speed Dry-Clutch setup DCT for the 1.6, and a new 8-speed torque-converter automatic for the 2.5.

When the Santa Cruz goes on sale next year, it will be crew cab only, and a front-driver with the 1.6 should start at around $25,000, and the maxed out AWD 2.5, likely called the ultimate, should be around $40,000.