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We have been speaking about the opportunity of a Kia pickup for a few years, however it wasn’t till March 2022 when the South Korean model confirmed plans to launch two electrical pickups by 2027. It will not be lengthy till we’re going to get a glimpse of considered one of these utes. Karim Habib, the corporate’s design boss, informed Australian journal Carsales in the course of the EV Day held in South Korea {that a} teaser is correct across the nook: “I believe you will get a peek fairly quickly.”
Rumoured to go by the “Tasman” moniker judging by a trademark submitting, the Kia truck will possible undertake a design language in the identical because the EV3 and EV5 crossovers unveiled this week in the course of the EV Day. Habib mentioned: “Our function as designers is to serve the model and serve clients. We design merchandise for individuals to make use of… throughout the framework of our model. So design has to have these attributes and that robotically creates a household look.”
11 Photographs
Whereas spy pictures from Korea confirmed a pickup with a Mohave-inspired entrance fascia, that should’ve been an early check mule with out the manufacturing physique. Given Habib’s assertion, the brand new truck is probably going going to take inspiration from latest EVs. If reviews are correct, the primary of two vehicles may have a double-cab structure and will not be electric-only. In reality, a diesel is claimed to come back out first, with the zero-emission variant to comply with.
Not like the Hyundai Santa Cruz with its unibody building, the Tasman is predicted to be a harder, four-wheel-drive truck using on a body-on-frame platform. It will reportedly provide a payload capability of just about 1,000 kilograms (2,204 kilos) and a tow ranking of three,500 kg (7,716 lbs). This primary truck is presumably the “strategic” pickup introduced by Kia in March 2022 when it additionally revealed plans for a “devoted” truck as nicely. Logic tells us the latter will likely be bought solely as an EV.
In an interview with Australia’s Drive journal in August, a spokesperson for the native Kia division mentioned the truck is slated to debut sooner or later in 2024. Manufacturing is seemingly going to happen at residence in South Korea from 2025, with sellers to get the primary pickups from the center of that yr.
Codenamed TK, the Tasman is rumored to be bought in a number of variants, from a no-frills utilitarian mannequin to a possible Ford Ranger Raptor-rivaling efficiency spinoff. Improvement is believed to have began in 2020 and Kia Australia is deeply concerned within the engineering course of.
The Tasman technically gained’t be Kia’s solely pickup truck contemplating the Bongo continues to be out there in South Korea. The fourth-generation mannequin was launched in 2005 and acquired a facelift in 2014 earlier than an EV variant was added to the lineup in 2020.
Be aware: High picture reveals an unofficial rendering primarily based on the Mohave.
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