- Kia says Tasman pickup revealed in Oct. is not for U.S. market
- Model hasn’t selected a U.S.-bound Kia electrical pickup
- Push towards extra hybrids and PHEVs could present the route in a truck
Kia remains to be contemplating a pickup for the U.S., however whether or not that quantities to a gasoline-fueled truck or an EV stays to be decided, in keeping with two high U.S. executives for the model on the Los Angeles auto present final week.
In both case, that pickup gained’t be the Tasman, which was revealed in October and is meant initially for Australia, Africa, and the Center East.
The Tasman, an old-style body-on-frame gasoline midsize pickup with a stay rear axle and an accessible diesel engine, has a cultured cabin look however in any other case suits the mildew of a workhorse.
“Tasman just isn’t for this market,” Kia chief working officer and government VP Steven Heart mentioned on Thursday to Inexperienced Automotive Studies in an interview on the present. However that doesn’t imply there could be a special gasoline truck that’s a chance, the chief defined.
2025 Kia EV9
In the meantime, the Kia electrical pickup beforehand confirmed as beneath improvement, and sharing a few of its underpinnings with the EV9, isn’t a shoo-in for America both.
“We nonetheless haven’t determined we’re bringing it,” high Kia America advertising government Russell Wager mentioned in a separate LA present interview, including that the electrical truck stays “a chance.”
The hesitation could have one thing to do with how such a truck can be positioned. In 2022, when the model first confirmed the Kia electrical pickup undertaking globally, Wager advised Inexperienced Automotive Studies that to ensure that it to make sense for North America such a mannequin would have to be positioned as an upscale electrical truck, not a high-value mannequin with a low value.
Kia EV teaser
Think about what’s more and more wanting like a market saturation of high-price totally electrical pickup entries, and it might be straightforward to see why Kia’s cautious on this space. The high-end electrical truck market has grown and contains fashions from Ford, Chevrolet, GMC, Rivian, and Tesla—with upscale electrical vans from Ram and VW’s Scout model additionally on the best way.
Additional clouding the image was a bit of stories from the South Korean enterprise publication Pulse that broke final week across the time of our LA auto present interview: Hyundai Motor Group and Basic Motors are reportedly pursuing the joint improvement of an inexpensive pickup truck for Latin America, and maybe past. Beneath the memorandum of understanding that is constructed on, GM and Hyundai are additionally collaborating on EV and hydrogen tech, and sourcing, however it’s unclear whether or not the items would possibly match collectively.
The reply, for Kia and a U.S-bound pickup, could lie someplace within the center, between a totally electrical truck and a throwback just like the Tasman—and maybe involving a long-rumored product associated to the Hyundai Santa Cruz, from its company cousin. Kia plans so as to add extra plug-in hybrids and hybrids to the lineup—with extra fashions, gross sales quantity, and electrical vary, even maybe a modest EV structure with a variety extender. Any of these choices would possibly give Kia and its prospects a few of the up-front worth the truck market is lacking proper now.
