New Hyundai Tucson Revealed: Fifth-Gen NX5 Goes Boxy, Lands in Australia in 2027

Image credit: CarSorted branded card. Manufacturer press imagery had not been distributed to Australian dealer networks at the time of publishing.

Hyundai has done what a lot of Tucson buyers half-expected and half-feared. The Korean brand has torn up the current parametric look for its best selling medium SUV and replaced it with something noticeably squarer, tougher and, in XRT trim, borderline off-roader. The all-new fifth-generation Tucson (codename NX5) was revealed in South Korea on 19 August 2026, and Australian showrooms should see it during 2027. That gives current MY26 Tucson shoppers roughly 12 months before the outgoing car is quietly rotated out.

Two things stand out for anyone cross-shopping this size of SUV right now. First, the design shift is real, not a facelift with new lights. Hyundai is calling the new theme Art of Steel and it uses vertical H-Edge daytime running lights, a slim horizontal centre lamp and heavy vertical rear lamps built into a stacked prism-style housing. Second, the Tucson has grown, and the interior is a full redo rather than a tidy-up. On our own compare tool the current Tucson slots between the RAV4 and the Sportage on size, price and running cost, so a bigger, boxier Tucson going upmarket has knock-on effects across the segment.

What Hyundai Actually Revealed

This was a Korean design reveal, not a full launch. Hyundai Motor showed the new car in Seoul, confirmed the Art of Steel identity and released the first official studio images of the standard body and the XRT. A full global debut is planned for the United States before the end of 2026, with the Korean market getting first customer deliveries around the same time. Australia, by every publicly stated timeline, is a 2027 market.

Local pricing, Australian variant walk, powertrain outputs, warranty and ANCAP have not been confirmed. Anyone quoting Australian numbers for the NX5 today is guessing. What Hyundai has confirmed are the dimensions, the design intent and the fact that there is an XRT-badged variant from launch.

Dimensions Confirmed by Hyundai

The new NX5 sits inside the same length envelope as the outgoing car but is wider and rides on a longer wheelbase. That is why Hyundai is claiming best-in-class interior space, and why the boxier glasshouse can look reasonably natural on top of the existing footprint. In segment terms it now measures slightly longer than a Toyota RAV4 (4,600 mm) and about level on width, but is noticeably taller than the RAV4 (1,685 vs 1,685 mm range, but with more upright body sides), which will show up in second-row headroom and boot capacity.

The Design: Art of Steel Explained

Hyundai's design brief for the new Tucson borrows from architectural lighting. The vertical daytime running lights sit high on the nose, joined by a slim horizontal centre bar to form an elongated H shape. Main headlamps drop down low into dark bumper housings, a treatment that has become a Hyundai signature over the last three years. At the back, the taillamps go the other direction, running horizontally across the tail with a three-dimensional prism appearance and a full-width TUCSON script under the glass.

The bodywork itself is where the biggest change lives. The rear doors and side fenders are visibly more volumetric, wheel arches are square, and a strong horizontal character line runs the length of the car. Roofline is more upright, glass area is boxier, and lower cladding is thicker across the sills and around the wheels. The overall silhouette is closer to the current Tucson Hybrid's replacement being pitched as an urban 4x4 rather than a curvy family SUV.

Meet the XRT: Tucson's Off-Road Alter Ego

The bigger surprise is that Hyundai revealed a dedicated XRT variant alongside the standard car. XRT badging in the Hyundai world signals a rugged trim, and this one leans into it. The XRT gets a distinct front grille with a rectangular block motif, contrast black wheel arch cladding, dedicated wheels, integrated skid plate inserts and touch-sensitive LED taillight elements the standard car does not have. Whether Australia gets it as a full variant, or as a styling pack sitting under the Elite or N Line grades, has not been confirmed by Hyundai Motor Company Australia.

If it does come, the XRT plants a very clear rival for the Toyota RAV4 GXL AWD and the Subaru Forester Hybrid Sport in the family-SUV-with-attitude cross-shop. It also sets the Tucson XRT against the newer wave of boxier medium SUVs entering the Australian market such as the Chery Tiggo 9 and the reworked Kia Sportage.

Inside: Digital Cluster, Floating Screen, Three-Dimensional Theme

The interior has moved on more than the outside. A two-spoke steering wheel is standard on the reveal cars, with a digital instrument cluster mounted on top of the dashboard and a wide floating touchscreen in the centre. Hyundai is describing the theme as three-dimensional, with sculpted door cards and a more layered dashboard that looks more like the Palisade large SUV than the outgoing Tucson.

Specification detail such as screen sizes, ambient lighting, upholstery choices and the standard head-up display has not been released for Australia yet. Given how consistent Hyundai has been about running the same core hardware across the Kona, Tucson, Santa Fe and Palisade, expect the new Tucson to inherit the wireless CarPlay and Android Auto, digital key and OTA update stack already running on the current cars.

Image credit: Hyundai Australia. Current fourth-generation Tucson shown for reference; the new fifth-generation NX5 revealed 19 August 2026 replaces it during 2027.

Powertrains: What Australia Is Likely to Get

Hyundai has not published NX5 powertrains for Australia, but the direction of travel is obvious. The current MY26 Tucson range has already been culled to a hybrid-heavy line-up, with the 1.6-litre turbo-petrol dual-clutch dropped and hybrid variants at every trim above the entry Base model. That hybrid uses a 1.6-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol with a 44kW gearbox-mounted electric motor for a combined 172kW and 367Nm, driving through a six-speed torque-converter automatic in either FWD or AWD form.

Expect that same architecture to carry into the fifth-generation car for Australia, potentially with a small electrification bump matching the just-launched Palisade Hybrid tune. A pure petrol 2.0-litre non-turbo four is likely to remain at the entry point given how price-sensitive the base Tucson is against the Sportage 2.0L and the RAV4 GX. A plug-in hybrid variant, which Hyundai already sells in North America on the outgoing car, still has not been formally proposed for Australia and would be a genuine new-model announcement for us if it happens on the NX5.

Safety and ANCAP

The fifth-generation Tucson is not yet rated by ANCAP. No target star result has been published for the NX5, and ratings do not carry across generations. The outgoing fourth-generation NX4 Tucson carries a five-star ANCAP rating from 2021, but that stops at the current bodyshell.

Hyundai's Australian arm has consistently taken new SUVs through ANCAP testing under the newest protocol at launch, so an assessment of the NX5 in 2027 is likely. Expect Hyundai SmartSense to be standard, including full-speed adaptive cruise, lane centring, blind-spot collision avoidance, rear cross-traffic avoidance, driver attention monitoring, safe exit assist and speed limit assist, in line with what the current MY26 Tucson already offers as standard on every grade.

Current MY26 Tucson: What You Can Actually Buy Today

Because the NX5 is 2027 for Australia, the MY26 fourth-generation Tucson is what dealers have on the floor for the next year. It is worth knowing where its money currently sits.

MY26 has already dropped between $1,000 and $2,500 across the range compared with MY25, so buyers who liked the outgoing car have never had a better time to sign a contract. Once the NX5 pricing lands next year, expect a further clearance push on remaining MY26 stock, especially on the pure petrol variant, which the new car is unlikely to lean on as heavily.

How It Compares in the Segment

The current Tucson Hybrid already sits inside a very tight cluster. On CarSorted's own RAV4 vs Tucson comparison, the Toyota holds the resale and dealer network edge, while the Tucson answers with more standard tech and a longer, roomier body. Against the Sportage, Kia's slightly newer platform still beats it on second-row space today, but the new NX5 wheelbase gain of 30 mm should erase most of that gap in 2027.

The Mazda CX-5 comparison changes shape with the third-generation CX-5 now on sale. Have a look at our CX-5 vs Tucson head-to-head for how those two currently stack up on price, standard equipment and running cost. The three-way RAV4 vs CX-5 vs Tucson comparison is where most family buyers actually end up.

Warranty and Ownership

Hyundai Australia currently offers a five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty on the Tucson, an eight-year, 160,000km battery warranty on hybrid components, and up to five years of capped-price servicing depending on grade. There is no reason to expect that to change on the NX5. Hyundai has been steady on ownership cover across its recent launches, from the Palisade to the Kona Electric to the Ioniq 5 update, so the same package is the base assumption for the new Tucson.

What This Means for Buyers on CarSorted

If you are actively shopping a medium SUV under $55,000, the reveal changes the timeline more than the shortlist. The MY26 Tucson Hybrid FWD at $44,990 driveaway on CarSorted is still the sharpest hybrid in that price bracket for combined power and interior space, and dealers have another 12 months of stock to clear before the NX5 lands. A signed order today at MY26 money, especially on the Hybrid Elite at $51,490 driveaway, is not obviously worse value than waiting for a 2027 NX5 that will almost certainly launch at a higher price on the same or similar powertrain.

If you are willing to wait, the NX5 is where the bigger interior, boxier design and possible XRT variant live. Also worth flagging: any residual value curve on the MY26 Tucson will steepen once the NX5 arrives, so a private-sale exit in three years looks tougher on the current car than a lease or novated arrangement would suggest today. Use CarSorted's Tucson Hybrid page for the current numbers, our three-way comparison for the alternatives, and the compare tool if you want to line the Tucson up against the Sportage, RAV4, CX-5 or Outlander on your own inputs.

The short version: buy the MY26 today if you need a car in the next six months and love the current design, or wait for the NX5 in 2027 if you want the bigger, boxier take with the XRT option on the table. Do not pay 2027 prices for a 2026 car just because a new one has been announced.