Just like Hyundai, Kia is riding the wave of success after an excellent sales performance last year. Naturally, the South Korean company is pushing forward with developments in key sectors.
Everyone knows about Kia's ambitions across the EV sector – it wants models from EV3 to EV9 (and everything in between) going as low as $30k. But that's not the only area where they work to deliver their first-ever models. Instead, Kia is also preparing to unleash some pickup truck ideas – including an ICE-powered body-on-frame model to go alongside the upcoming EVs.
If anyone thought the former was just vaporware, the upcoming product was recently spied on while clad in heavy camouflage and resting in a parking lot in South Korea. Now everyone believes that, indeed, Kia will bring to market a body-on-frame pickup truck potentially based on the Mohave SUV platform and boasting diesel power under the hood. Later on, it could go international instead of only catering to emerging markets with a zero emissions powertrain, too.
This is one of the two pickup trucks under development by Kia, with the other one being a dedicated EV solely based on the E-GMP architecture. If we're interpreting the hints correctly, this spied body-on-frame model is a mid-size pickup truck, which means the EV-only product could be slightly larger and used as a means to fight the Ford F-150 Lightning-sized pickup trucks, for example.
It's also more likely to reach North America if Kia manufactures it locally and gives a taste of their style to the Lightning, Cybertruck, Silverado EV, Hummer EV, Sierra EV, Ram 1500 REV, or Rivian R1T. Back to the smaller brother, it's allegedly called 'Tasman' according to the rumor mill and carries obvious traits from the Mohave – it's boxy and rugged, generally looking ready to go on adventures in the middle of the wilderness.
Anyway, its arrival is probably close enough to make some Kia fans a little impatient. Thus, the imaginative realm of digital car content creators has decided to alleviate their concerns and try to uncover the design behind the camouflage. For example, the Halo oto channel on YouTube provides fresh automotive info corroborated with their virtual designs; now, there are some new CGI ideas about the upcoming Tasman based on the recently spied prototype.
The boxy appearance is worthy of the mid-size pickup truck segment, and this Kia Tasman will obviously clash with best-selling models like the Ford Ranger. Do take all these renderings with a pinch of salt, though, as nothing is official just yet. All that remains to be seen – aside from the interior and exterior design plus the potential powertrain options – is Kia's answer to the burning question: Will it come to America?
If it does, and it looks like this, it will immediately clash with the rugged representative of the US market – Jeep's Gladiator. However, it remains to be seen if Kia dares to attack Toyota's Tacoma territory, especially after they have seen how Hyundai's smaller Santa Cruz performs against a local hero like the cheaper and electrified Ford Maverick unibody compact pickup truck.
How about you? Do you plan on buying the Kia Tasman if it looks like this and arrives in your region with gasoline and diesel engines under the hood? Or is it just another model in a sea of unworthy opponents to the international success of the Ford Ranger and the localized American Tacoma powerhouse?
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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