Hyundai Confirms Body-on-Frame Midsize Pickup Is Coming by 2030

Plus, it’ll mean the expansion and leveling up of the rugged XRT subbrand.

Diversifying a portfolio is a good rule of thumb for anyone, and Hyundai seems to be really taking the idea to heart. Although other automakers are canceling plans and retooling strategies, Hyundai currently supports a luxury arm, has built and keeps building award-winning EVs, and has launched fabulous enthusiast cars in addition to its quality mainstream vehicles. Now? Add an entire line of rugged, body-on-frame vehicles—starting with a midsize pickup truck—that’ll most certainly give the established competition a run for its money.

At the 2026 New York International Auto Show, Hyundai unveiled the Boulder concept vehicle (pictured): a body-on-frame SUV that’s extremely Ford Bronco-ish in its looks and serves as kick-off vision of what’s to come. Despite the concept being an SUV, Hyundai confirmed the first production vehicle we’ll see from this new line of body-on-frame rigs will indeed be the midsize pickup truck, due by 2030. This aligns with what we learned from a company investor day last year.

“[The Boulder] is the beginning of a new journey of the study of body-on-frame,” Hyundai design boss SangYup Lee told MotorTrend in an interview. “We’re going to see a lot more in the future.”

The unibody constructed Santa Cruz compact pickup (above) is the first and only truck the automaker has offered in the United States market so far, and it will likely be dropped after this year to make room for the upcoming body-on-frame pickup.

But Wait, What Does This Mean for XRT?

In fact, it seems that Hyundai has plans to launch body-on-frame vehicles and beef up the rugged XRT subbrand’s legitimacy alongside it. The Crater SUV concept was just the beginning.

“We are taking XRT very seriously,” Lee said. “Today is a new journey of the body on frame, but this is the new chapter for XRT as well. You're going to see a lot more XRT trims. Not only trims, but more strong capability in the future. Certainly, body-on-frame really gives us a strong opportunity to have XRT to the next level.”

Given the explosion of popularity in off-roading, Lee said the company is unsatisfied with where it currently sits on the flagpole. “We are not comfortable where we are,” he said. “We always stretch another step on the top. This is our strategy.”

Pickup truck owners and off-roaders are historically a very loyal and stubborn bunch, so Hyundai will no doubt face some fairly significant headwinds as it attempts to break into these segments. However, the automaker has a strong history of putting its money where its mouth is. You need look no further than the successes of Genesis and its N performance division to know that Hyundai doesn’t really mess around when it says it’s going to do something.

We can see this new product portfolio challenging the likes of Ford, Jeep, and Toyota—but done the Hyundai way. So, that likely means pixelated exterior design and advanced technologies inside. It’s all good news for us consumers, because it means more choice.