Hyundai Boulder SUV Concept, a preview of its first body-on-frame vehicle (Source: Hyundai)

The Boulder SUV concept is a preview of Hyundai’s upcoming body-on-frame vehicles set to rival the Ford Bronco, Jeep Wrangler, and Toyota Tacoma.

Hyundai aims at new segments with the Boulder SUV

Coming off its best first quarter in company history, Hyundai is gearing up to enter the growing off-road segment dominated by Detroit’s Big Three: Ford, GM, and Stellantis.

Hyundai offered a sneak peek of its first body-on-frame vehicle with the Boulder Concept, unveiled at the New York Auto Show. Although it’s an SUV, the first vehicle to launch on the platform will be a midsize pickup, scheduled for delivery by 2030.

The concept is “a four-wheeled love letter to the dynamic, off-road way of life that many customers have been asking us for,” according to SangYup Lee, Head of Hyundai and Genesis Global Design Center.

Hyundai already sells the Santa Cruz pickup in the US, but Hyundai Motor North America CEO Randy Parker told reporters at the NY Auto Show (via Automotive News) that the unibody truck was just a “first stab” at the market.

“Once you go body-on-frame, it pushes the boundaries well beyond Santa Cruz,” Parker said, adding, “We know the segment is highly, highly competitive. And we are not taking it lightly.”

The Boulder concept “demonstrates how Hyundai is seeking to give American customers more of what they want.”

Hyundai’s upcoming body-on-frame vehicles will be designed and built in the US, including at the Metaplant manufacturing plant, where the IONIQ 5 and IONIQ 9 are produced. It will also use domestically-sourced steel from Hyundai’s $5.8 billion Steel plant in Louisiana.

Where the midsize pickup will be assembled is still undecided, Parker told Automotive News, but the Metaplant is under consideration.

The body-on-frame pickup will be one of 36 new vehicles Hyundai will launch in North America by 2030. If, or when, we will see a production version of the Boulder SUV concept has yet to be confirmed.

Hyundai said that the concept “remains a pure design study, its body-on-frame construction, bold proportions, functional priorities, and target audience all blaze a formidable trail for Hyundai’s forthcoming production midsize pickup.”

The concept looked like a modern off-roader with dual safari-style fixed upper windows, oversized 37″ mud-terrain tires, “generous ground clearance,” and an added roof rack and tow hooks.

While Hyundai didn’t confirm what powertrain the body-on-frame vehicles will use, the platform is expected to support purely electric, hybrid, and internal combustion engine setups.