Hyundai Palisade shown on Facebook – Malaysian launch of 3.8 litre V6 seven-seater SUV coming soon?

The Hyundai Malaysia Facebook page posed a question earlier this week; do you miss outdoor activities? A great deal of us surely do, though more to the point, the assortment of images posted depict the Palisade, which has been announced by Hyundai-Sime Darby Motors (HSDM) in March to be set for launch in Malaysia sometime this year.

Might this mean debut for our market is due to take place soon? At 4,981 mm long, 1,976 mm wide and 1,750 mm tall with a wheelbase of 2,900 mm, the Palisade is a lot of vehicle, and it will have an engine to match; the Malaysian-market version has been confirmed to receive the automaker’s 3.8 litre V6 engine, rated to produce 291 hp at 6,000 rpm and 355 Nm of torque at 5,000 rpm.

Transmission as standard is an eight-speed automatic gearbox, with engine outputs sent to either the front, or all four wheels courtesy of its HTRAC AWD system. Gearbox operation is through a shift-by-wire ‘gearstick’, featuring automatic park logic that shifts the transmission into ‘P’ when the engine is switched off.

For ferrying passengers and luggage, the Palisade can accommodate 510 litres in its luggage compartment when all seven seats are in place, or if you tend not to need more than half that, folding down the third row of seats will yield 1,297 litres. The seven-seater version of the SUV has a seating layout of 2-2-3, where the middle row gets a pair of captain seats with heating and ventilation.

Still, yet to be confirmed are the SUV’s equipment specifications, though the seven-seater SUV can be expected to boast of a 12.3-inch TFT instrument cluster for the driver, and an eight-inch Display Audio infotainment unit with support for Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. Certain markets have the option of the larger, 10.25-inch infotainment unit, though its inclusion for Malaysia remains to be seen.

There will be plenty of kit to please the crowd in the Palisade; there is a vent diffuser for the air-conditioning in order to provide focused, partially diffused or fully diffused airflow for rear passengers, along with seven USB charging outlets.

There are also 16 cupholders, Driver Talk intercom for communicating with rear passengers, and a Rear Sleep Mode that allows the driver and front passenger to continue listening to audio while cutting the feed to the rear occupants.

The Palisade went on sale in neighbouring Indonesia last December, where orders were received for three variants starting from 777 million rupiah (RM222,821) for the base, Prime variant, onwards to the Signature for 888 million rupiah (RM254,653), and then capped by the Signature 4WD at 1.078 billion rupiah (RM309,139).

Right-hand-drive versions of the Palisade for markets such as Malaysia, as well as Australia and New Zealand will be built on the same production line as the native LHD version at the automaker’s plant in Ulsan, Korea.