Hyundai's New Tucson Goes Big and Boxy, With a 242-HP Hybrid and Built-In AI
Hyundai's best-selling SUV grows in every dimension, adopts the angular Art of Steel look, and gains a 242-hp hybrid plus LLM-based in-car AI. Korean sales start in October.
Hyundai has revealed the fifth-generation Tucson, the first full redesign of its best-selling vehicle in six years. The compact SUV grows in every dimension, trades the outgoing model's curves for the angular "Art of Steel" look, and tops out with a 242-hp hybrid — more powerful, on paper, than Toyota's new RAV4.
The automaker showed the SUV at a media event in Paju, South Korea, on September 18. Korean pricing follows in October, when domestic sales begin. Hyundai hasn't said when the new Tucson will reach the US.
Bigger body, sharper edges
The styling ties the Tucson to Hyundai's latest hard-edged models such as the Nexo and the Ioniq 3. Vertical daytime running lights frame a slim, indirectly lit bar across the nose, while the taillights hide a faceted pattern inside clear lenses that changes character depending on whether they're illuminated.
An XRT trim aimed at outdoor buyers adds its own grille, wheel-arch cladding, and skid plates.
At 185.0 inches (4,700 mm), the new Tucson is 2.4 inches longer than before, with 1.6 inches of extra width and a wheelbase stretched by 1.2 inches. Rear headroom grows by more than an inch to 40.6 inches, and the rear doors now swing open to 83 degrees instead of 73 — a small change that matters when you're loading child seats. Despite the larger body, the drag coefficient drops from 0.33 to 0.30, helped by active air flaps and reshaped wheels and spoilers.
A hybrid that out-muscles the RAV4
Two 1.6-liter turbo powertrains carry over in name only. The gas model makes 190 hp (193 PS) and 195 lb-ft through an eight-speed automatic, a 13 PS gain over its predecessor. The hybrid switches to Hyundai Motor Group's next-generation system, with total output of 242 hp (245 PS) and a combined rating of 17.4 km/l — roughly 41 mpg on Korea's test cycle, so EPA figures will differ. Both numbers improve on the outgoing hybrid's 235 PS and 16.2 km/l.
Hybrid versions also pick up features borrowed from EVs: a Stay Mode that keeps climate control and infotainment running with the engine off while parked, navigation-based prompts that tell the driver when to lift off the accelerator ahead of a slowdown, and E-Traction, which uses the drive motor to damp body motions on rough pavement.
For scale, Toyota's sixth-generation RAV4 went hybrid-only for 2026 and peaks at 236 hp in standard hybrid form, plug-in aside. The Tucson hybrid now clears that — though Hyundai hasn't published US-spec output yet.
The safety list includes a company first: redundant door-unlock power, which keeps the doors unlockable from a backup supply if a crash cuts the main one. A pedal-misapplication safeguard, forward parking collision avoidance, and nine airbags are standard on every trim, and a reversing assistant can steer the car back along its recent path in tight spots.
The Tucson is also the first Hyundai SUV to run Pleos Connect, the infotainment platform that debuted on the Korean-market Grandeur in May. It brings the Gleo AI voice assistant, built on a large language model, an app store for streaming and games, and a 16:9 display measuring 17 or 12.9 inches depending on spec.
The stakes are highest in the US, where the Tucson set a record of 234,230 sales in 2025 as Hyundai's top model. The previous generation went on sale in Korea in September 2020 and reached the US about six months later as a 2022 model. A repeat of that cadence would put an American debut in the first half of 2027, but Hyundai hasn't confirmed timing, pricing outside Korea, or US powertrains.
