A political standoff has left Hyundai’s Canadian pickup plan in limbo, with sales slipping and trucks sitting idle near the border
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- Hyundai Santa Cruz sales in Canada have collapsed due to unresolved trade-related delays.
- Trump’s new tariffs sparked a cross-border standoff affecting Hyundai’s Canadian supply.
- Canadian-spec Santa Cruz trucks are sent North but remain stuck just south of the border.
Getting your hands on a new Hyundai Santa Cruz in Canada might take longer than expected, and not because of local demand or supply chain issues. Instead, the holdup stems from a political standoff, with a batch of Canadian-bound trucks currently stuck just south of the border due to tariff complications triggered by US President Donald Trump’s trade policies.
Read: Americans Love Trucks, Except Ones From Hyundai
The Santa Cruz is built exclusively at Hyundai’s plant in Montgomery, Alabama. Even though it’s not a major player in Canada’s market, 2,574 examples were sold there in 2024. However, sales have skidded this year and Hyundai has yet to decide what it’ll do with the trucks waiting near the US border.
Tariff Trouble
After President Trump imposed 25 percent global tariffs on auto imports in early April, Canada responded in kind with 25 percent tariffs of its own. According to Hyundai Canada chief executive Steve Flamand, the automaker “had already committed to production” of Canada-bound Santa Cruz models “so we produced a number of vehicles that we’re just holding there.”
Although Flamand didn’t tell Auto News how many vehicles are waiting south of the border, he says Hyundai still has some inventory available in the United States. Sales north of the border have taken a massive hit in June, with a mere 38 units being sold locally, while overall sales are down 6.8 percent, with the Korean brand shifting just 1,460 trucks through the first seven months of the year.
“We’ll make a decision shortly and we’re not going to have dealers and customers waiting for vehicles,” Flamand added.
Hyundai updated the Santa Cruz for the 2025 model year roughly twelve months ago. The truck now sports tougher and a revised interior with a new optional curved display housing a 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster and a 12.3-inch infotainment screen, wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay as standard, and a fingerprint scanner.
In the US, the Santa Cruz is available with a 2.5-liter naturally-aspirated four-cylinder and a 2.5-liter turbo four, but in Canada only the latter engine is on sale.
