A mildly tuned Hyundai Santa Cruz will compete in the all-female Rebelle Rally later this year. The Korean automaker has been a regular of the race lately, taking different cars to it, and says the Santa Cruz only needed minimal tweaks to become an off-road machine.
Specifically, the engineering team behind the project has listed the suspension on Truxxx components and put 17-inch wheels shod in Falken off-road tires into the arches. As a result, the ground clearance has risen by 40 mm (1.6 in) at the front and 25 mm (1 in) at the back.
Further modifications included skid plates, an impact-resistant front bumper and auxiliary lighting mounted on the bumper and the roof using special hardware. The bed ended up with a spare wheel case and a toolbox for repairs on the go.
In its stock form, the pickup relies on a 2.5-liter naturally aspirated engine with 191 PS (188 hp / 141 kW) or a 2.0-liter turbo four-pot making 281 PS (277 hp / 207 kW).
The Rebelle Rally will kick off in the United States this weekend on a route spanning around 2,500 km (1,550 miles). The participants – all women – will be banned from using GPS navigation and instead encouraged to use old-school paper maps.