Hyundai Australia 'working hard on getting Tucson hybrid', no such luck for Palisade

The 2023 Hyundai Palisade lineup will not gain a hybrid variant in this generation, the company has confirmed.

The facelifted large SUV, which launched locally this week, continues to be powered by a either a 3.8-litre naturally-aspirated V6 petrol or a 2.2-litre, turbocharged diesel four-cylinder.

Though Hyundai said it was "evaluating hybrids for every model in the range" it was not possible to add electrification to the Palisade because its platform could not easily accommodate the technology.

"Is there a hybrid option anywhere else? No," said Hyundai Australia's chief product planner, Andrew Tuitahi.

"The power trains that you see in the car here in Australia are consistent globally. Does a hybrid Palisade make sense? Sure. I think there's definitely an opportunity there when that options presents itself, but not for this generation."

Currently, Hyundai's electrified model range includes the recently discontinued Ioniq sedan's hybrid, plug-in hybrid (PHEV) and full-EV lineup, the Kona Electric, Ioniq 5 EV and hydrogen fuel-cell Nexo – the last of which is available for fleets only at present.

Hyundai's Santa Fe Hybrid large SUV is now set to arrive in Australian showrooms later this year after a delay.

Meanwhile, the brand's overall most popular model is its Tucson mid-sized SUV, which sold 2186 units last month and 9541 year-to-date.

Hyundai currently sells two Tucson hybrid models in the US and Europe – a traditional ‘self-charging’ hybrid with 172kW of power, as well as a turbocharged plug-in hybrid with 198kW of power.

Hyundai insiders told Wheels that the firm is "working very hard to get a Tucson hybrid for Australia", as it wants to extend the number of hybrid vehicles in its local offering.

However, the roadblock at present is that the electrified Tucson is only available so far in left-hand-drive, with a local (or even overseas) conversion to right-hand-drive proving too expensive and "would just not make sense".

Hyundai models are manufactured from the beginning for RHD markets globally, they are not converted from one form to the other. Unlike vehicles such as the F-150 ute, which Ford will convert to RHD for our market.

Originally from the UK, Kathryn's working background in journalism is more red-top tabloid than motoring, but coming from a classic car loving family, it's hard not to have a passion for anything with four wheels - especially anything from the '80s.