Hyundai planning range of rugged mid-size SUVs and pickup trucks

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Hyundai continues to be a brand on the move, and now it appears to be moving into a new automotive arena: rugged mid-size trucks.

"When they see an opportunity to sell vehicles in a segment that they're not currently in, they tend to study that carefully and make a decision as to whether or not they should enter that," said Ed Kim, president and chief analyst at AutoPacific.

A recent Hyundai SUV concept, the Boulder, is a preview of a body-on-frame platform. That will be able to also underpin a pickup truck, which Hyundai has confirmed. True, the Santa Cruz has been a nice baby pickup aimed at city dwellers, but now we're talking about something much bigger and sturdier. Not just pickups in the grand scheme of things, but off-road-capable SUVs too. Buyers can't seem to get enough of them, and the industry is responding.

"There are a lot of other auto makers also going into that space. Nissan has very recently announced that they too are developing a whole family of body-on-frame SUVs, as well as the next-generation Frontier pickup," Kim noted.

Does a mid-size truck need to be the kind with a frame? Not necessarily. For years now, Honda has offered the Ridgeline, on the same unitized platform as their Pilot crossover SUV. One advantage? With no frame rails under the bed, you get this slick locking compartment underneath.

But the Ridgeline is not a huge seller, and a truck with a traditional frame is considered more of a player, whether a pickup or an SUV.

In recent years, Hyundai may have been setting the stage for a venture into the rugged mid-size truck market by coming out with a rugged sub-brand for its crossovers: XRT. Those have projected a tougher image for pavement-intended crossovers. Still, this next chapter will raise the stakes quite a bit.

"It's going to be incumbent on Hyundai to really make sure that they're offering something that's distinctive, and has some very notable, unique selling propositions, above what the competition is doing. Because it's going to be a fairly crowded space," said Kim.

This company has made lots of bold moves in recent years, so when it comes to branching out into a whole new arena, they're probably pretty serious about having a solid game plan. Stay tuned.