Hyundai plans to take on the Cybertruck with a new electric pickup

According to a recent unconfirmed report published in South Korean media, engineers at Hyundai have been carefully dismantling a Cybertruck from Tesla, with the aim of reverse-engineering it and speeding up the development of a similar model from the brand. This dismantling work on the North American manufacturer’s electric pickup supposedly began on July 13 at Hyundai’s Namyang Research Center and is said to have been completed 15 days later, on July 28.

Although Hyundai has not commented on the matter, the source of this information suggests that the brand’s future electric pickup will probably offer the option of a range extender. Hyundai aims to sell 50,000 vehicles equipped with a range extender by 2029, and this new pickup could be key to reaching that target.

For its part, KIA has also set a similar sales target for electric vehicles with a range extender, known as EREVs by their English acronym. It would not be surprising, therefore, if it ended up marketing its own version of Hyundai’s future electric pickup, given that both brands belong to the same group.

With a range extender in this electric pickup, Hyundai’s goal will be to offer a range of more than 400 km while towing a 4-tonne trailer. It must not be forgotten that the most criticized aspect of the Cybertruck is precisely its range, so it seems that Hyundai could hurt Tesla’s electric pickup there.

Hyundai currently sells the Santa Cruz pickup in the North American market with relative success

The South Korean manufacturer plans to enter the lucrative North American pickup market in a big way, and to do so its engineers have been analyzing the three best-selling models there, with the intention of understanding what makes them successful. Hyundai hopes to then transfer everything it has learned to its own vehicle. So far, it has only emerged that one of the models analyzed is the Cybertruck from Tesla, and the other two are unknown.

The vast majority of pickup owners in the United States, or trucks as they are called there, especially value their towing capacity, and the electric models currently on sale see their range significantly reduced when performing this type of task. Although electric pickups offer great towing power, diesel engines still offer a significant advantage when covering long distances while towing a trailer.

By incorporating a range extender, Hyundai wants to address this problem, offering all the advantages of electric pickups while minimizing their biggest drawback.