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"They won't be able to match it": Why the 2025 Kia Tasman ute will change the game for the brand in Australia

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Kia Tasman (Image: Kolsa.ru)
Kia Tasman (Image: Kolsa.ru)
Andrew Chesterton
Contributing Journalist
28 Oct 2024
3 min read

Kia is expecting at least a 20,000 annual sales uptick when the Tasman goes on sale around June next year, helping it break free from Hyundai and potentially chasing down Mazda and Ford to claim position number two on Australia's sales charts.

That's from Kia Australia's CEO Damien Meredith, who was quick to point out that both Kia and Hyundai's combined success is what matters to the brand – given both marques fall under the same parent company – but suggested its Korean sibling "won't be able to match" the volume uptick the Tasman could deliver.

The Tasman will join a renewed focus on hybrid technology in most of its other model lines, giving the Korean brand products in the two most popular vehicles types in Australia – dual-cab utes and hybrids.

"With NVES we'd like to have the availability of more hybrids, and we'll bring in as many as we can in 2025 and 2026. If its available, we'll put our hands up for it," Mr Meredith says.

"It's always been my view that Hyundai and Kia together, if they do well, that's great. We've been fortunate that we've been able to get ahead of them over the past few years.

"We've got Tasman coming and that's probably going to give us a volume leap that they won't be able to match in the early stages.

"We're looking at around 10 percent of the market. When we first ventured down this pathway, the (ute) market was around 200,000 sales, and it's a bit bigger than that now, but we think 20,000 (sales) is achievable."

Kia's targeted 20,000 Tasman sales per annum breaks down to 1666 sales per month. Based on this year's sales, and discounting an increase in hybrid deliveries, the Tasman would have seen added 15,000 units to Kia's year-to-date (January to September) tally of 62,473 for a total 77,474 units.

That would have seen it climb from fourth place to second, eclipsing Mazda (73,487 sales) and Ford (74,564 sales). In fact, only Toyota would be ahead on a year-to-date basis, with a whopping 183,606 sales between January and September.

In short, the Tasman will give Kia a real shot at its highest-ever ranking on Australia's new-car sales chart, and the opportunity to claim the title of the country's second-biggest manufacturer.

It would also see it outselling the Nissan Navara, Mitsubishi Triton, Mazda BT-50, and trailing only the Isuzu D-Max, Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux.

They are big ambitions, and they're yet to be realised, but at last we'll have a better understanding of just how likely Kia is to achieve them, with the Tasman set for its global unveiling tomorrow.

CarsGuide will be in attendance, so watch this space.

Andrew Chesterton
Contributing Journalist
Andrew Chesterton should probably hate cars. From his hail-damaged Camira that looked like it had spent a hard life parked at the end of Tiger Woods' personal driving range, to the Nissan Pulsar Reebok that shook like it was possessed by a particularly mean-spirited demon every time he dared push past 40km/h, his personal car history isn't exactly littered with gold. But that seemingly endless procession of rust-savaged hate machines taught him something even more important; that cars are more than a collection of nuts, bolts and petrol. They're your ticket to freedom, a way to unlock incredible experiences, rolling invitations to incredible adventures. They have soul. And so, somehow, the car bug still bit. And it bit hard. When "Chesto" started his journalism career with News Ltd's Sunday and Daily Telegraph newspapers, he covered just about everything, from business to real estate, courts to crime, before settling into state political reporting at NSW Parliament House. But the automotive world's siren song soon sounded again, and he begged anyone who would listen for the opportunity to write about cars. Eventually they listened, and his career since has seen him filing car news, reviews and features for TopGear, Wheels, Motor and, of course, CarsGuide, as well as many, many others. More than a decade later, and the car bug is yet to relinquish its toothy grip. And if you ask Chesto, he thinks it never will.
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