The first pickup truck from Kia has been christened Tasman and was spotted doing test runs recently. Note that Kia will offer the Tasman with a ladder-on-frame chassis and will debut in 2025. That will be different from the Hyundai Santa Cruz, which uses the monocoque chassis. It is fascinating to me that Kia wants to target the pickup truck category going forward. It is a mighty successful carmaker with passenger cars and even electric vehicles. For now, let us take a look at the details of this latest case.
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Kia Tasman Pickup Truck
This post comes from kindelauto on Instagram. It captures the pickup truck in its full glory even though the exterior is wrapped under a thick camouflage. The silhouette of the truck is evident. At the front, it gets an upright bonnet with a boxy appearance, LED DRLs, headlamps, a sturdy bumper, and a skid plate. On the sides, we get to witness the trapezoidal wheel arches, stylish alloy wheels and a dual-cab body type. At the rear, the cargo compartment is visible. In my opinion, it looks like a full-fledged pickup truck and not a simple conversion of some urban SUV.
Note that there are no official announcements about the specifications of the pickup truck. However, it could borrow the engine from the Telluride SUV which has a large V6 mill generating a decent 291 hp and 355 Nm of peak power and torque. Since this was spotted in the US market, its rivals include the likes of the Toyota Tacoma, Ford Ranger, Chevrolet Colorado and Honda Ridgeline. However, we might see the Tasman in the flesh in markets like South Korea, Australia, Africa and the Middle East first.
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Author’s Note
The trend of pickup trucks is quite popular in many specific markets. Going forward, we are likely to see even more emerging markets adopting these lifestyle off-roading pickup trucks. In such scenarios, having new options could entice modern customers. I suppose that is what Kia is aiming for. As it expands its global presence in new categories, Tasman could be a key contributor to this endeavour. For more details, let us keep following further developments in this space in times to come.
