Hyundai's New Tucson Looks Basically The Same Outside, But Brings Buttons Back Inside

Hyundai's New Tucson Looks Basically The Same Outside, But Brings Buttons Back Inside

Image: Hyundai

Hyundai Europe released photos of the facelifted 2025 Tucson today, with slight exterior tweaks and a new interior to bring its compact crossover into step with the rest of Hyundai’s latest models. No specifications were released, only the first images and a few other details.

The big updates show in the interior where Hyundai ditched the primarily touch-sensitive ‘buttons’ in favor of its new corporate layout which features – drumroll please – physical volume and tuning knobs and real buttons for the climate controls and other functions. The old model’s separate gauge cluster and central displays are replaced by a single sweeping display atop the dash that combines the digital gauge display and infotainment screen.

The interior of the new Tucson features Hyundai's new corporate design which reintroduces physical switchgear for radio and climate control operation and moved the gear selector to a stalk on the steering column.

Image: Hyundai

The images also show that Hyundai will ditch the automatic transmission’s push-button operation in favor of a Bop-It–style shifter mounted on the steering column, like that of the newly redesigned Kona. It will also receive Hyundai’s three-spoke steering wheel which drops the brand’s H logo and swaps it for the four-dot, Morse Code H, which is surprisingly successful at modernizing the overall interior vibe.

The fourth-generation Tucson was introduced in 2020 and debuted some pretty radical exterior styling details like lights integrated into the grille and sharply creased bodywork to help it stand out from the rest of the CUVs in the Home Goods parking lot. This facelifted model showcases some pretty minor exterior tweaks that capitalize on the Tucson’s handsome features, kind of like it got a few units of filler to enhance its jaw and fill its under-eye bags that formed over the five years since this generation’s debut.

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Another image of the front of the car

Image: Hyundai

Where the current model has 10 lighting elements in the DRL clusters, the facelift drops that number down to eight, alongside some other tweaks to slightly streamline the front styling. The front grille and bumper have chunkier designs, and the wheels are new as well. There are no direct photos of the rear, but from the side view it seems virtually unchanged from the current model.

The fourth-generation Tucson has always been a pretty agreeable crossover, and this reimagined 2025 model should be even more agreeable thanks to Hyundai’s styling tweaks and the decision to return to physical buttons. We will keep you updated with U.S. market announcements and powertrain specifics when they come. The refreshed model is slated to go on sale in Europe early next year, with no information about the U.S. release mentioned at present.

A side view of the facelifted Tucson, again it looks the same as the current model, really.

Image: Hyundai