Kia Committing to the EV Truck Market, Can It Slay the Current Goliaths?

But to compete in the American pickup truck game, you need to be pretty much perfect, lest you draw the ire of Ford and fans. The mid-sized Telluride SUV was a pretty awesome starting point. A naturally aspirated and turbocharged six-cylinder engine made for a compact and capable package that Hyundai Motor Group, which includes Kia, hopes can compete with the likes of the Ford, Chevy, and Toyota.

But now, Kia is ready to take the leap of faith into the pickup truck biz that so many have tried and failed to enter successfully. Does anyone even remember the Mitsubishi Raider? That level of obscurity is at stake if Kia fails. But in all fairness, there are more than a couple of indicators that tell us Kia really does have a fighting chance.

First thing's first, the 2022 Kia EV6 battery EV crossover was an absolute smash hit, in a world where Teslas of various varieties have ruled the roost with their lightning-fast electric cars. Now, with the EV6, but also the Hyundai Kona from the same corporate umbrella, the South Koreans are giving Elon Musk something to really sweat over. When he's not trying to sue the pants off of Jeremy Clarkson.

We need to remember what pickup truck drivers traditionally like to use their vehicles for. They like to haul any and all manner of items in the rear bed and keep the groceries in the back seat if you're such luck as to have them. There are some people that never put so much as a plank of wood in the bed of their trucks. But Kia would be fools to assume this would be the bulk of their sales mass.

Any Kia EV truck is going to need to be just as, if not even more reliable than what the American hardware from Stellantis, GM, and Ford are packing. 426 horsepower (318 kW/432 PS) with the standard battery and 563 horsepower (420 kW/571 PS) with the extended battery out of the latest Ford F-150 Lightning are no numbers to sneeze at, so Kia better come prepared.

Lest we not forget that Chevrolet is also throwing their hats into the EV truck fray with their Silverado EV. That's a truck that sports an electric motor with power ranging from 510 on the standard battery all the way to 663 horsepower with the higher-end packages. So, we're just going to causally make EV trucks with the same horsepower figures as Ferrari Enzos and Pagani Zondas? Maybe the future won't be so bad after all.

But the reason we think Kia may even surpass American monikers in terms of production quality is simple. The leap Hyundai Motor Company and its subordinate brands, Kia included, has undertaken in the last 15 years is nothing short of astonishing. The Hyundai Santa Cruz, a gas-pickup seems to be fairing well in consumer reports pitting it against the likes of the Ford Ranger and smaller Ford Maverick.

With plans to make a whole range of EVs numbered at least from one to nine, Kia only strengthens the idea it may use the Santa Cruz, or at least parts from it, in the quest to build a Kia EV that ultimately helps both companies. But rest assured, Americans will probably indeed buy Kia EV trucks assuming they can actually bring it into production.

But these American buyers will push whichever EV trucks they decide to own through the same rigors and everyday grinds that they would put a normal gas or diesel truck through. There's a sense that perhaps EVs aren't as robust as internal combustion in the rough and rugged terrain legitimate work trucks tend to find themselves in.

We don't yet know at this juncture where the Kia EV pickup will slot in the range. But there's reason to suspect it will have architecture in common with the upcoming Kia EV9 SUV. If this is indeed the basis for the new Kia EV pickup, rest assured that we're very much interested. It would be all too much fun to take one out for an off-road trip against some of its American rivals.