What Is It: Five-seat car-based sport utility vehicle, in front or all-wheel-drive

Price: $22,700 — $34,050. 

Competitors: Toyota RAV-4, Honda CR-V, Ford Escape, Subaru Forester. 

Alternatives: Mazda CX-5, Nissan Rogue, Jeep Cherokee.

Pros: Advanced safety features if you’re willing to pay up to $10,000 for them; sizable cargo space.

Cons: Generic, sluggish.

Car press launches usually have the upbeat aura of a corporate motivational seminar, especially in the last few years, as business booms and short memories forget the sins of the past. Sales are up, the future is bright, and we will rule the roads forever. By contrast, the launch of the 2016 Hyundai Tucson felt like a wake, or at least a hangover brunch. 

We learned that Hyundai, a company born to sell decent mid-priced sedans, is falling behind. In a marketplace where 56 percent of all vehicles sold are trucks or SUVs of some flavor, Hyundai’s family haulers — the Hyundai Tucson, the Santa Fe, and the Santa Fe Sport — are actually down nearly 15 percent. 

“We don’t have enough production, we don’t have enough vehicles,” said a beleaguered-looking Dave Zuchowski, Hyundai’s North American CEO. “One in three new vehicles sold are CUVs [crossover utility vehicles]. People just don’t think of Hyundai.”

With that cheery start, they introduced the new 2016 Hyundai Tucson, it’s hoped-for rebound. Hyundai expects to sell 90,000 of them next year, Zuchowski said. Their factory in the Czech Republic is working overtime to churn out the Tucson. Who doesn’t want a Korean truck-car made in Eastern Europe? 

Those ambitious sales predictions might come true. But all the massive growth in family sport utilities is coming from the sub-segment of smaller models. Cars like the Honda HR-V, the Subaru XV Crosstrek, and theMazda CX-3 are poised to dot the strip malls of America. In its previous generation, the Tucson was lapped by the competition; Hyundai moved 47,000 last year, compared to Honda’s 335,019 CR-Vs. Saying you’re going to really start competing now in that arena is like saying, “well, I’ve got a tennis racket, so I’m just going to bop off to Forest Hills for the weekend to beat Serena Williams.” 

The new Tucson comes with a carryover base 2-liter engine, paired with a six-speed automatic transmission that generates 164 hp, and an average 21 mpg city/26 mpg highway/23 mpg combined in all-wheel-drive trim. For the upper trims, there’s also a 1.6-liter turbo four that gets 175 hp and 24 mpg/28 mpg/26 mpg combined. It comes with a seven-speed dual clutch transmission that seems a little superfluous but also worked fine. The fuel economy numbers best some of its competitors but not the whole pack; the AWD versions of the Nissan Rogue and Honda CR-V get 28 mpg combined and 32-33 mpg on the highway. (Front-wheel-drive cars in all models are more efficient, and Hyundai does offer an “Eco” front-wheel-drive trim with 29 mpg combined.) The Tucson would really benefit from a hybrid model, though it does come in a hard-to-find but still innovative fuel-cell edition.