A Designer Turned The Hyundai Santa Fe Into A Baja Monster

The Hyundai Santa Fe normally spends its time carrying families, luggage and groceries. Give it to the right designer, though, and things get very different. Digital artist Khyzyl Saleem has transformed Hyundai’s boxy SUV into a brutal Baja-style racer, and the funny part is that Hyundai itself seems to love the idea.

Hyundai USA shared Saleem’s renders on its official social media accounts after the artist posted the wild concept. That alone makes the project worth a closer look, because automakers rarely promote fan-made creations that completely ignore the original vehicle’s intended purpose.

Almost everything about the standard Santa Fe disappears. The digital build uses a shortened two-door body with huge proportions and a much wider stance. The familiar H-shaped headlights and taillights remain, along with the windshield, but pretty much everything else gets a serious makeover.

The SUV now sits on enormous beadlock wheels with chunky off-road tires. Wide fender extensions cover them, complete with aerodynamic fins, while heavily cut-down bumpers give the Santa Fe much better approach and departure angles. A sculpted hood, roof-mounted auxiliary lights, and large air channels in the rear quarters push the Baja look even further.

Then there are the two spare tires mounted at the back. Apparently, one wasn’t enough.

Turning the rendering into a real desert racer would require far more than cutting up the body. Hyundai would need a custom chassis, long-travel suspension, and heavy-duty components capable of handling high-speed jumps and rough terrain. The engine would also need a serious upgrade to match the aggressive setup.

In that form, the Santa Fe would leave its three-row family SUV duties behind and enter the world of dedicated desert racers. Think along the lines of the limited-production Ford Bronco DR, or even more extreme machines such as the Ford Raptor T1+ and Toyota’s Dakar-spec Hilux.

Hyundai has given no indication that it plans to build anything like this. For now, the Baja Santa Fe exists only as a digital creation. Still, the fact that Hyundai shared the renders itself suggests the company is happy to play around with ideas that come from outside its normal design process.

And Hyundai’s own caption may have dropped the biggest hint. The company asked followers which Hyundai should get the same treatment next. So this could be the first of several wild collaborations with Saleem, better known online as @the_kyza.