It seems you can’t blow your nose without at least one mainstream car manufacturer announcing a new SUV these days.
With good reason; it’s one of the largest and fastest-growing vehicle segments right now and you can’t blame car makers for wanting to nab a tasty chunk of the SUV pie.
Kona the Barbarian?
The world woke up to the news that Hyundai is to unveil a new compact SUV this summer, designed to pinch sales from the hugely popular Nissan Juke from October.
Named Kona, the crossover will flesh out the South Korean brand’s SUV offering to three models in the UK, serving as the smaller sibling to the Qashqai-sized Tucson and X-Trail-rivalling Santa Fe.
Why name it Kona though? Well, the name continues Hyundai’s tradition for christening their SUVs after areas in the United States and this time it’s the Kona district on the Big Island of Hawaii, rather than Kona in Kentucky, Hyundai clarifies.
That’s all the concrete info we have so far. The recent Tucson was pretty accomplished, we should expect more of the same, but in a smaller package.
SEAT names new flagship SUV
In other SUV-shaped news, there’s reason to believe that SEAT’s forthcoming flagship SUV will be called ‘Formentor’.
Eagle-eyed trademark watchers spotted that the Spanish brand recently applied to register the name ‘Formentra’, before reapplying for the revised ‘Formentor’ name.
Considering SEAT’s knack for naming their cars after Spanish territories – Leon, Ibiza, Alhambra – that would stack up, assuming the name is a nod to the Cap de Formentor in Mallorca.
SEAT is keen to capitalise on the success of the Ateca – its first SUV – so a larger sibling, which is expected to look much like a stretched-out Ateca, is being rushed through.
The seven-seat SUV would use much of the technology and underpinnings as the Skoda Kodiaq and would rival the Kia Sorento from mid-2018.
SsangYong resurrects Rexton name
Finally in our impromptu SUV naming round-up, SsangYong is to revive the Rexton label for its new premium off-roader.
The success of the Tivoli compact SUV has gone some way to helping the South Korean brand shake off its reputation for merely repackaging decade-old Mercedes tech.
Now, SsangYong reckons the Rexton can make it the ‘leading producer of large premium SUVs with traditional 4×4 values’.
Powered by a 2.0- or 2.2-litre turbo diesel engine, the Rexton will aim to be one of the safest cars in its class with no fewer than nine airbags. The styling is certainly safe, we’ll give it that, and possibly the cheapest, starting at under £30,000.
The new Rexton will go on sale before the end of 2017.
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