Kia is about to be within the pickup truck enterprise in a much bigger approach than ever. The South Korean carmaker already makes a pickup and has completed since 1980, the pocket-sized Bongo cabover accessible in international markets that leans virtually completely to the industrial market. The Kia Tasman jumps into the midsize section with a concentrate on retail light-duty consumers. It is unlikely for the U.S., however Kia’s given itself a scaled-down model of a possible eventual U.S. problem by specializing in Australia. In 2022, gross sales of utes, as they’re known as down there, have been more than 18% of the overall market. In line with Australia’s Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, out of the 1,216,780 autos offered down underneath in 2023, the Ford Ranger claimed the title of total best-seller, breaking the Toyota Hilux’s seven-year streak within the place. The Hilux slotted into second, the Isuzu Ute D-Max got here third. That is three pickups main the Toyota RAV4 in fourth, a duplicate of the state of affairs within the U.S. final 12 months however a measurement down (right here it was F-150, Silverado, Ram, RAV4).
There’s a steep drop after the top two, although. After Ranger and Hilux gross sales within the low sixty hundreds, the D-Max rings within the low thirties, the following greatest Mazda BT-50 within the higher teenagers. The Volkswagen Amarok moved 6,626 models, solely about 700 forward of the Ram 1500. Level being that there is cash in play within the pickup section, however Kia might want to battle for consideration amongst a crowded midfield.
It is clear Kia plans to unfold the phrase world wide, although the introduced markets to this point solely embrace Oz, South Korea, Africa and the Center East. The automaker uploaded a 30-second teaser to YouTube forward of releasing an online sequence on the Tasman’s improvement. All we’re informed for now’s that engineers carried out 1,777 several types of checks to create and refine the Tasman, a number of rounds of every check including as much as about 18,000 particular person evaluations. Â
Except Kia creates capability to construct the Tasman right here, which might rely upon a sibling SUV on the same platform getting the inexperienced mild, the chicken tax guidelines the Tasman out. The primary episode within the R&D sequence drops July 22, that is after we’ll start to seek out out what we’re lacking.
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