Huatai have acquired the rights to make the Hyundai Sante Fe in China from their joint venture partner Hyundai. Huatai have been making the Sante Fe, and the Terracan SUV in China for several years now, and have received permission from Hyundai to rebadge the Terracan, and the Sante Fe as their own vehicles. The trouble is, Huatai didnt get an engine with the deal, and dont have any engines of their own. The solution was simple, go shopping for one! Huatai approached SAIC with regards to dropping the 1.8 Turbo assisted KV6 K-series engine from MG-Rover into the SUV, which will now be known as the Huatai Sante Fe.
We’re not entirely sure if Huatai and Hyundai have any plans to make the latest generation of Sante Fe in China, currently the 2nd generation Sante Fe is imported into China.
The 1.8T Huatai Sante Fe is expected to go on sale for around 150,000rmb later this year.
How does this fit into things? The JAC Eagle is the 1st generation Santa Fe. This looks to me like the 2nd generation. So is there a 3rd generation which is what you’re referring to as being imported into China?
Hang on - I think I mistook my Hyundai! The JAC is the Tucson, and the above Huatai is the Sante Fe? There are only two generations of Sante Fe as far as Im aware.
Obviously we need the help of I_hate_china!
Yes I thought there were only 2 generations of the Santa Fe. The only thing is I can’t really see what the difference is between the Tuscon and Santa Fe!
The difference between Tuscan and Santa Fe.
Tuscan : Rides on Elantra chassis. Can accept upto 2700 cc V6.
Santa Fe : Rides on Sonata chassis. Can accept upto 3800 cc V6.
Which one is the Kia Sportage cousin, the Tuscan?
P.S. Can we do something about your username, you’re obviously a fairly reasonable fellow.
I don’t know about JAC one, but that Huatai is indeed a first-gen CKD Santa Fe. At least the Santa Fe CKD contract appears legal.
What has ticked off Hyundai is that Huatai has been raiding on former high-ranking Hyundai engineers and executives, as these are Hyundai vehicles and it takes Hyundai engineers to modify them properly.
No, Ash, you are right: there were (are) only two generations of the Santa Fe. The picture above definitly is the first generation Santa Fe. The second looks completely different!