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Kia HQ in Korea is going to extraordinary lengths to ensure the major update coming to the Tasman is the success in Australia they expected the current model to be, deploying experts from the USA and Korea to our market as well as surveying current Tasman owners on what they like, and what they'd like to see improved.
These are steps understood to have never before been taken by Kia in our market – such is the importance of the Tasman – and are being spearheaded by Kia in Korea where work is building on a new-look update.
The survey has been sent directly from Korea to Tasman owners across Australia, and is being shared widely across ownership Facebook groups here. The research is being conducted by TrendLab506 in Seoul, which describes itself as a "trend consulting agency based in Seoul, Korea, currently conducting the interviews with Tasman owners in Australia".
Following the survey, select owners are then invited to a two-hour focus group online, as well as asked to complete an ownership diary.
Incredibly, those who opt to complete the diary will be observed in real time by Kia researchers in Australia as they go about their daily driving lives.
"Our research team will accompany participants during activities in which they use their Tasman to observe real-life usage and ask relevant questions," the study application reads.
For completing the survey, owners are paid $30. For the focus group, the compensation is $300, while completing the owner's diary is rewarded with $600.
Alongside the research study work have been trips by Kia's own R&D staff to Australia, both from Namyang in Korea and from the Hyundai America Technical Center Inc. (HATCI) in Michigan to review the Tasman here, along with the rest of Australia's dual-cab market.
All of which points to a facelifted Tasman arriving sooner rather than later, with the current ute so far underperforming in Australia – by far the Tasman's most important market.
"We've been quite vocal, and we always have been with this car in particular," a Kia spokesperson recently told CarsGuide.
"We're very vocal with our superiors, and up front. We're definitely being very deliberate in what we think might be hampering its sales performance.
"If we want to be a third of the total production volume, they've got to be receptive.
As to when we could expect a new-look Tasman, the brand cited the costs associated with a "major redesign".
All of this is accompanied by what appeared to be a rear-drive version of the company's 2.5-litre turbo-hybrid powertrain spied testing in Europe – seemingly a perfect powertrain choice for a new Tasman.
The powertrain in question, the 'TMED-II', is a powerful 2.5-litre turbo four-cylinder petrol-hybrid, producing a diesel-dominating 245kW and 460Nm of torque which is sent to all four wheels via a new six-speed automatic transmission.
The powertrain has been flagged by Kia in Australia as the one "that would make sense" for the Tasman, with the brand's product chief, Roland Rivero, having told CarsGuide that hybrid would be the priority powertrain in the era of Australia's recently-implemented New Vehicle Efficiency Standards (NVES), which place increasingly tough penalties on high-emitting cars and utes.
“With NVES currently in play, the priority would probably be more of an electrified hybrid, for example, to try and see us through to the longer term,” Mr Rivero previously told CarsGuide.
With research work now well underway, a new Tasman looks increasingly likely to touchdown next year.
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