The Walking Tucson: Could a New Tucson Give Life to Hyundai’s SUV Sales?

While Hyundai’s old Tucson SUV landed a starring role long ago on AMC’s megahit zombie show The Walking Dead, the vehicle’s sales in the U.S. market were anything but star-like (especially considering the market at the time, when the Tucson’s segment—compact crossovers—were selling like hotcakes). Sales of the 2015 Tucson were off by 7 percent in the first half of the year while overall small-SUV sales exploded to nearly a 13-percent gain compared to the first half of 2014.

And that is exactly the reason that this month’s showroom debut of the third-generation 2016 Hyundai Tucson is so important. While the old Tucson’s role as the much-needed “rescue vehicle” in the popular AMC post-apocalyptic series did a great job of keeping the nameplate in the collective consciousness, the worthy new version will do a lot more for actually generating Tucson sales.

“It’s incredibly important,” says Hyundai’s U.S. chief, Dave Zuchowski. “It provides us with a very competitive product in the fastest growing segment in the industry.”

And “competitive” is the name of the game, so to speak. That is, while Tucson sales averaged only 45,000 a year over the six years since the second generation was introduced—resulting in a decline in segment share to just 2.5 percent from 4.5 percent while competitors’ sales boomed—Zuchowski plans to be building and selling about 90,000 Tucsons annually by next year. Those six years are not going unnoticed by Zuchowski: “Our sales were relatively flat [during that time] but the segment went from 940,000 annual sales to 1.6 million.” As of now, Hyundai remains about 80 percent sedan sales and only 20 percent SUV sales. This trend has eased the capacity constraints that were holding back sales of some Hyundai cars a couple of years ago.

The new Tucson, however, seems to be a worthy competitor to segment leaders such as the Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V, and Chevrolet Equinox. It offers improved mileage, segment-leading passenger roominess, sleek new styling, and requisite technological advancements including a 5-inch touchscreen display with rear-view camera inside, and LED headlights outside. Too, with its greatly refined interior layout, materials, and overall treatment, the new Tucson also demonstrates what Hyundai has learned from extending its brand into luxury vehicles such as the Genesis and Equus sedans, and why it and Kia led J.D. Power’s overall Initial Quality Study results this year.

“The new Tucson is a brand new vehicle, better in every way, and very competitive and with great value,” Zuchowski mentions. “We can be exceptionally well positioned in the segment and highly competitive.”

Keep checking in with us here at Rosen Hyundai for more information with regard to the new 2016 Hyundai Tucson.