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Facelifted Palisade, top prize for Ioniq 5

Hyundai has gone big at the New York motor show, with dominance of world car of the year awards and unveiling of a revision for its largest sports utility.

THE Hyundai hit hardest by just-introduced Clean Car legislation has just unveiled in facelifted form at a show where Hyundai also celebrated a major success.

Hyundai New Zealand has expressed delight at the Ioniq 5 taking the world car of the year award and also confirmed continued commitment to the Palisade sports utility, a super-sized seven seater. Late-2022 arrival is cited.

Palisade has received significant revision and continues with the engines it has now – a 2.2-litre four-cylinder diesel and a 3.8-litre petrol V6.

 The latter is the largest powerplant Hyundai sells here and its provision in this manufacturer’s first full-sized seven chair car impacts fuel burn and exhaust emissions and makes it a target under the Clean Car legislation introduced on April 1. The V6’s CO2 count of 280 grams per kilometre means it attracts the highest possible penalty, of $5175.

The diesel, which also provides in the next-size-down Santa Fe whose platform the Palisade shares, does not escape the new settings but is much less affected – it produces 223g/km so attracts a $2127 levy.

Clean Car ramps up at the start of 2023 when distributors have to pay penalty on every vehicle that exceeds a prescribed level.

The current imposts come on top of sticker prices that place in a higher price level, with the cheapest just $10 under $100,000 and the dearest, in petrol, at a BMW X5-hunting $119,900.

The car sells for less in Australia, the only other right-hand-drive market of significance.

Our neighbour encouraged Hyundai to re-engineer the model - which had been first planned purely for North America, where it is built – and has signalled intent to take the facelift, unveiled at the New York motor show overnight.

Today media there were reporting that updated Palisade is expected to land in Australia later this year, with a higher price to account for its new technology and upgraded safety.

Although Palisade has been here for barely a year, this freshen is a mid-life upgrade, as it has been available Stateside for just under four years.

The rework delivers a  new look, upgraded interior technologies, new active safety features, and a connected car technology that would be a first for Hyundai if offered locally.

The update introduces a front end that draws inspiration from the latest Tucson medium SUV, with a new grille incorporating 'parametric' metallic inserts, revised LED headlights with vertical daytime-running light signature, and an abundance of chrome along the lower body.

Other design changes include a new 20-inch alloy wheel style, restyled lower front skid plate, auto-dimming side mirrors, and a revised rear end with a reworked skid plate design.

Inside, the 8.0-inch and 10.25-inch central touchscreens are dropped in favour of a new 12.3-inch screen (above), incorporating wired Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, satellite navigation, it takes a digital rear-view mirror – which displays a camera feed from the rear window in the central mirror – and a Wi-Fi hotspot.

The car also incorporates Hyundai’s Bluelink connected car technologies, which overseas allows owners to track their vehicle, pre-heat or pre-cool the cabin, check if doors or windows are open, monitor maintenance intervals, and more.

A fully-digital instrument display continues, it gets a fresh steering wheel and a redesigned driver's seat for improved comfort. Second-row seat ventilation introduces, as does heating for the third seat row.

The Palisade's safety suite has been expanded with a wider span of features, from intersection support for the forward-facing autonomous emergency braking system and low-speed rear autonomous emergency braking to the adaptive cruise control system now enabled to detect and slow down for curves on the road. A feature found on some Mercedes cars. The airbag count increases and intercession improves.

The New York soiree proved a big celebration for Hyundai as its new Ioniq 5 electric car which holds status as New Zealand Car of the Year was announced as recipient of the 2022 world car of the year award.

It took this against two other finalists, also electric: Ford’s Mustang Mach-E and the Kia EV6, which has the same platform and technology as the Ioniq. Hyundai’s five-seater also snared associated design and electric vehicle awards.

Said local spokeswoman Kimberley Waters: “We’re absolutely thrilled to hear the news. Hyundai Motor Company has succeeded in creating an exceptional vehicle that stands out among its competitors. This model has garnered many global car awards including our very own New Zealand Car of the Year, so this announcement is very much the cherry on top. Kiwis have really taken to the Ioniq 5 with a high volume of interest to our website as well as orders.”

Other category winners were the Audi e-tron GT (world performance car), Mercedes-Benz EQS (world luxury car) and the Toyota Yaris Cross, which nabbed world urban car.