Hyundai Santa Fe facelift spotted testing

The Hyundai Santa Fe facelift has been spotted testing for the first time. The car is expected to make its debut at the 2014 Paris Motor Show in October and will be launched internationally around mid-2015. 

The current Santa Fe was launched globally just two years ago and this new car will just be a mid-cycle facelift. The heavily camouflaged test mule sport a similar overall design based on ‘Storm Edge’ design language, a sharper and butch-looking version of ‘Fluidic’. The car is expected to get minor styling updates like updated front and rear bumpers, redesigned headlamps and tail lamps as well as revised interiors.

Like the current Santa Fe, the Santa Fe will be based on a new platform which is shared with the Hyundai i40. The car will mostly retain its engine line-up, though the Indian version is available only with the 2.2-litre CRDi engine, 194bhp and 421Nm of torque in the manual variant and 194bhp and 437Nm of torque in the automatic variant. 

We expect the Santa Fe facelift to be launched here by the end of next year. Though the previous Santa Fe used to be imported as a completely-built-unit (CBU), the current car is locally assembled at Hyundai’s Chennai plant. Despite getting an edge over the pricing, the Santa Fe is still an expensive car. The Korean manufacturer has established its hold in India with its stylish and well-engineered cars and decent value for money but spending over Rs 25 lakh on a Hyundai might not seem sensible for some customers. As a seven-seater, the Santa Fe only has only one rival, the Chevrolet Captiva.