The head-turning Hyundai Santa Fe will be hybrid only (obviously)

The news we were expecting (everything’s a hybrid now isn’t it?), but nonetheless, confirmation has arrived: the new, good-looking-out-of-nowhere Hyundai Santa Fe will only come to Europe with hybrid powertrain options.

Specifically, two powertrain options. There’s a 1.6-litre turbo petrol hybrid with 158bhp, and a plug-in hybrid alternative that marries that same engine to an electric motor; power for that is still to be settled, says Hyundai. Both get a six-speed automatic gearbox.

In another sign of the times there’ll be no diesel option, even though this is a seven-seater likely to be loaded to the gunwales with people and stuff for family camping trips and such.

There is a 2.5-litre petrol with 276bhp that sounds just right for that kind of thing, but that’s only going to be available in Korean and North American markets, sorry.

“The all-new Santa Fe is an SUV that finds a perfect balance between city life and the great outdoors, handling everything from busy family itineraries to camping adventures,” says SangYup Lee, Executive Vice President and Head of Hyundai Global Design Center. “With its longer wheelbase, roomy interior and terrace-like tailgate space, the new Santa Fe leans into its SUV strengths to offer more versatility than ever before with a premium customer experience.”

Ah yes, Hyundai is making big claims about the new Santa Fe’s interior space having told its designers to make the tailgate bigger before sketching a single line of the exterior.

Seems to have done the trick because legroom and headroom is up in the second and third rows and it still looks devilishly handsome.

And as we discovered last month, Hyundai is going all-out on the premium, high-tech theme: dual wireless phone chargers, a panoramic curved display with 12.3-inch instrument clusters and infotainment (plus a separate 6.6in screen for the climate controls), an ultraviolet sterilisation tray, a digital key, many driver assistance systems and almost as many eco-friendly interior materials.

Oh, and a ‘world’s first bilateral multi-console storage space’ that front and rear passengers can access. Now there’s a reason to buy one.

If you are among those people prepping fistfuls of cash, we won’t see the Santa Fe in Europe until sometime in the first half of 2024. And now we wait…