automotive

Hyundai Plans To Reveal Flagship SUV, Palisade, In LA

Hyundai Motor America will reveal its new flagship premium SUV at the Los Angles auto show later this month.

The automaker revealed the name Thursday. The 8-passenger SUV will be called Hyundai Palisade. The 2020 model will offer a “reassuring” level of high-tech, intelligent safety features, according to Hyundai.

The new SUV name references a series of coastal cliffs and might naturally be associated by many with the Pacific Palisades, an affluent and beautiful neighborhood in Southern California.
The new moniker has been in the works for some time, says Ian Beavis, chief strategy officer at AMCI Global. 

"It is their version of the Kia Telluride," Beavis tells Marketing Daily. "Both companies wanted aspirational American names that conveyed sophistication and the outdoors in different ways. I think they succeeded."

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The future Palisade SUV will “convey a bold exterior that commands attention and has strong inherent imagery of safety and security, especially important with parents with growing families and active lifestyles,” according to the automaker. Palisade styling will offer “dignity with style in an understated theme that demonstrates clear differentiation worthy of a flagship SUV.”

Global media will see the Palisade for the first time at the Los Angeles Auto Show on Nov. 28. The Palisade will be available in the summer of 2019.

The automaker continues an aggressive portfolio makeover spanning the past 12 months, featuring 10 all-new or enhanced models. Heading into 2019, the Hyundai fleet has been entirely refreshed. The portfolio makeover include the all-new Kona compact crossover; three new eco-friendly options with Kona EV and NEXO Fuel Cell Vehicle joining the refreshed Sonata Hybrid/PHEV; and a new look for all of Hyundai’s volume leaders: Sonata, Elantra, Tucson and Santa Fe. Additional models will be added early in the calendar year.

The last time Hyundai offered a three-row crossover SUV was the Veracruz, which was on sale from 2007 to 2012.

Hyundai didn't feel that reviving the Veracruz was right for this new model, Michael O'Brien, Hyundai Motor America's president of product, corporate and digital planning, told CNET’s Roadshow. Instead, the name "Palisade" also hearkens back to the "strength of a fortress.”

The new moniker has been in the works for some time, says Ian Beavis, chief strategy officer at AMCI Global. 

"It is their version of the Kia Telluride," Beavis tells Marketing Daily. "Both companies wanted aspirational American names that conveyed sophistication and the outdoors in different ways. I think they succeeded."

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