New Kia Tasman: Aussie-Centric Design For A Global Pickup

  • Kia will launch the Tasman, its first pickup truck, in 2025 with a focus on the Australian market, known for its love of dual-cab utes.
  • Australia’s best-selling new vehicle last year was the same-sized Ford Ranger, followed by the Toyota Hilux.
  • The company acknowledges the challenge of entering this crowded segment but plans to offer a diesel-powered option with towing and payload capacities suited for both work and family use.

Kia officials have revealed that while the newly-confirmed 2025 Tasman will be available in parts of the Middle East, Africa, South America, and Asia, the primary focus for the carmaker with their first ever mid-size pickup truck is Australia.

Much of the vehicle’s development has been done Down Under and it gets its name from the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand. Kia describes it as the most Australian Kia model ever and when it launches next year, it will rival the Ford Ranger, Toyota Hilux, and Isuzu D-Max, the country’s three best-selling new vehicles.

Read: 2025 Kia Tasman Announced As Brand’s First Pickup Truck

Australia’s love for pickups, or dual-cab utes, as they’re known locally, has exploded since Ford and Holden stopped building cars in the country, killing off the Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon that were routinely the country’s two best-selling cars.

Kia acknowledges that convincing shoppers to buy an unproven pickup won’t be easy. It has set an annual sales target of 20,000, Bloomberg reports, significantly fewer than the 63,400 Ford Rangers and the 61,100 Toyota Hilux models sold last year.

“We logically felt that the next step in our growth and our presence in the Australian landscape was to add the product that most Australians are driving,” Kia Australia general manager of product planning Roland Rivero told Bloomberg.

“It’s obviously going to be very tough, we’ve got very established competitors that have been doing this for decades. There’s definitely an opportunity there to try and convert some of those customers looking at the existing ute competitors,” Rivero added.

Kia will look to broaden the appeal of the Tasman by ensuring it suits local tradespeople who frequently buy pickups for work use, while still being suitable as a family vehicle on the weekend. It will have a 3.5-tone towing capacity, a payload of at least one tonne, and meet the requirements for a fleet vehicle. It will also be sold with a diesel powertrain, a popular option for the country’s dual-cab utes.

As the Korean company continues the development of the new model, our spy photographers have snapped it testing in cold conditions. Like other prototypes we’ve seen, this one is covered in black body cladding but some key elements of its design are visible, like the roofline, the shape of the side windows, and the altogether boxy and rugged shape. The bed also looks to be generously sized, a feature that will no doubt appeal to Aussie buyers.

Kia Australia has confirmed the inclusion of a diesel powertrain for the Tasman, likely the brand’s 2.2-liter CRDi four-cylinder engine already featured in the Hyundai Santa Fe and Kia Sorento where it delivers 199 horsepower (149kW / 202 PS) and 325 lb-ft (441Nm) of peak torque. It is expected to be paired with an automatic transmission and selectable all-wheel drive. There’s potential for a larger 3.0-liter turbo-diesel V6 option too. Kia is said to be targeting a 3,500kg (7,716 lbs) towing capacity and 1,000kg (2,204 lbs) payload for the Tasman.

The status of the Kia Tasman’s entry into the North American market remains uncertain, primarily due to the hurdles posed by the notorious “Chicken Tax,” which imposes a substantial 25 percent fee on imported trucks, making them too expensive for the US.

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Baldauf


The Auto World

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