The Hyundai Palisade is officially, physically in Malaysia. We spotted at least 9 on trailers being transported.
Hyundai is a brand that is undergoing a vast transformation. The company has decided to move its regional training facilities away from Malaysia and to Indonesia, along with the opening of a major factory there as well. In the meantime, Hyundai in Malaysia will be moved up the ladder in terms of brand perception. The company has already shown its intention with the high-specced Hyundai Kona, Elantra and Sonata, which are all fully-imported from South Korea unlike most of their locally-assembled rivals. Now it looks as if the Palisade might be the next on the list for a local launch.
Today, as we were driving past Sime Darby Motors City in Ara Damansara, we came upon two carrier trucks loaded with at least 9 Hyundai Palisade SUVs. Hyundai’s local headquarters are located in Sime Darby Motors City and the brand has a showroom there as well. These looked like factory fresh cars, fully-imported from Hyundai Motor Company’s Ulsan plant in South Korea.
Back in March 2021, Hyundai Sime Darby Motors announced that they intended to launch the Kona facelift and Palisade in Malaysia by the end of the year. Having made good on the Kona facelift’s introduction, we now see that their flagship SUV’s arrival is imminent.
The Palisade is the company’s first full-sized, flagship SUV. It rides on an all-new chassis that is shared with the equally large Kia Telluride. Mechanically, the Hyundai Palisade in Malaysia will come with a 3.8-litre Atkinson-cycle, direct injection V6 petrol engine with 291 horsepower at 6,000rpm and 355Nm at 5,000rpm.
We’re not sure if our version will get all-wheel drive or just front-wheel drive, but both options are available. Regardless, an 8-speed multi-plate torque converter automatic is the only transmission option available. Globally, other engines too are available, including a 3.5-litre petrol multi port injection engine and a 2.2-litre turbodiesel.
In terms of equipment, the Hyundai Palisade will be fully specced to the brim with a Heads-Up Display, a 12.3″ digital instrument cluster and a 10.25″ touchscreen for infotainment. It will specified with captain chairs for the middle row passengers and be wrapped in the best leather Hyundai has to offer.
As for pricing, well, it’s not going to be cheap. This is a large capacity, large-sized, fully-imported flagship SUV is already priced as high as RM310,000 in Indonesia (after conversion of launch prices). It’ll probably be higher still over here.
