CarBrandLogos archive · Hyundai · 2004

HyundaiTucson

The compact crossover that quietly became Hyundai's global volume seller.

Photo: SsmIntrigue · CC BY-SA 4.0

The story

A defining chapter in Hyundai history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Hyundai Tucson, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

Launched in 2004 to sit below the Santa Fe, the Tucson gave Hyundai a car in the fastest-growing segment in the world, sharing its platform and much of its hardware with the Kia Sportage. It was a straightforward front-wheel-drive crossover with optional all-wheel drive, and the first two generations sold on value rather than on any distinguishing quality. In Europe the second generation was renamed ix35, part of a naming experiment Hyundai later abandoned.

'06-'08 Hyundai Tucson FCEV · Bull-Doser · Public domain

2007-2010 Hyundai Tucson City Elite wagon 02

Design and engineering

That generation did produce one genuinely notable variant. The ix35 Fuel Cell of 2013 was among the first hydrogen fuel cell vehicles built on a normal production line rather than hand-assembled, putting Hyundai ahead of most of the industry on a technology it has continued to pursue.

2007-2010 Hyundai Tucson City Elite wagon 02 · OSX · Public domain

In production

The fourth-generation NX4 of 2020 finally gave the model a face people remembered, with daytime running lights hidden within the grille's parametric pattern until illuminated, and hybrid and plug-in drivetrains across the range. It is now consistently one of Hyundai's two best-selling models worldwide.

2010 Hyundai Tucson GLS IIHS · Brady Holt · CC BY 3.0

At a glance