After years of waiting, the Hyundai Santa Cruz has finally started to arrive at dealerships across the country. And as usual, with a new model, there are markups. At this point, this is such a standard practice that there should be a dealer markup field on the Monroney.
We’re very early in the cycle for the Santa Cruz, the only car sales website that even had the truck listed was Auto Trader. Not even Hyundai had the model listed when I did an inventory search. Using Autotrader, I was able to find 387 Santa Cruz’s for sale across the country. Here in SoCal, only 28 are listed for sale. But all are within the Santa Cruz’s MSRP range of $US25,175 ($34,757) to $US40 ($55),905 ($56,473). Many of these dealers also stock base or mid-level cars. So you can find some examples under $US30 ($41),000 ($41,418).
Searching the whole country though, that quickly changes. Many dealers have stocked fully-loaded Limited trims. Out of the 387 listed, 68 are in the $US40 ($55),000 ($55,224) to $US50,000 ($69,030) price range. Of those 68, just 16 are listed at or right below that $US40 ($55),905 ($56,473) MSRP. Everything else is marked up. But they aren’t as bad as you’d expect. We’re not talking $US20 ($28)-$US30 ($41) grand over sticker.
One dealer, Cronin Hyundai in Nicholasville, Kentucky has a Santa Cruz Limited listed for $US42,250 ($58,330). Another, Capitol Hyundai in Montgomery, Alabama has a Limited trim for $US43,181 ($59,616). Just over $US2,200 ($3,037) markup. But they do get slightly worse.
There are five Satna Cruz’s listed for over $US45,000 ($62,127). Huffines Hyundai Mckenny in McKinney, Texas has modified its Santa Cruz. Maybe as a way to justify its $US4,974 ($6,867) markup.
The most expensive Santa Cruz though as of this writing is at Pantili Hyundai in Princeton, West Virginia. They want a whopping $US47,635 ($65,765) for a Santa Cruz Limited while the other two Santa Cruz’s they have are both SEL trims listed in the low to mid $US40s. $US40 ($55),000 ($55,224) is already pushing it. Over that? You’re getting into the price range of trucks that are actually, you know, trucks. You can find a Silverado or F-150 easily for that. So if you want a Santa Cruz, make sure you find one within its MSRP range. It’s cool to have another compact unibody truck offering on the market, but buying one over MSRP just to be the first doesn’t make sense.