South Korean automaker Kia is getting in on the pickup game, but will the Tasman come to the U.S.?
Over the past couple decades, we’ve mainly had the same half-dozen players duking it out for their share of the U.S. pickup market. The Hyundai is the latest new automaker to jump into the truck fray with the Santa Cruz, but now its sibling is also about to dip its toes into the midsize segment…in global markets, at least. While we knew something was coming already thanks to rumor posts and spy shots, today is the first time the Kia Tasman — a new Ranger-sized ute set to launch in Korea, Australia, Africa and the Middle East — has been officially confirmed.
Of course, the automaker conspicuously left North America out of that equation, as well as the rest of the Western Hemisphere, for that matter. Kia did say it plans to launch into the “C-segment” pickup truck market in 2025, using a “phased global launch strategy”. So, it’s not necessarily that we’ll never see it somewhere in the Americas, but it’s just not the first milestone on the Kia Tasman’s roadmap.
Given Australia’s love of utes like the Toyota Hilux, it’s hardly surprising they’re the ones who pitched the truck in the first place. That’s also where Kia’s forthcoming pickup gets its name: The Tasman connects to Tasmania, also called the “island of inspiration”, as well as the Tasman Sea.
No technical details are available, nor did we get any images showing what the truck actually looks like. Since we are talking about a global launch with overseas markets seeing the Tasman first, the truck should get a turbo-diesel option as well as all-wheel drive or four-wheel drive. Kia may offer multiple cab configurations, although it would almost certainly launch in a crew cab-only configuration if the automaker did decide to launch the Tasman in our market.
The United States’ “Chicken Tax” may also play a crucial role as to whether the Tasman will ever reach our shores. While Hyundai builds the Santa Cruz in the U.S., Kia would have to utilize its West Point, Georgia plant (which is already buzzing with the Sportage, Sorento, Telluride and EV9 SUVs), build out a whole new facility or partner with another company to build it here to avoid the 25% tariff on light trucks imported from abroad.
As ever, only time will tell. Although the Kia Tasman remains forbidden fruit, we’ll post an update on the situation as the company actually rolls out its truck next year.
