'We're not Norway, we're Australia': Kia Australia boss said petrol cars aren't going anywhere with the Kia Tasman, Sportage, Carnival and more to stay affordable

The reports of the death of petrol and diesel cars have been greatly exaggerated.

Kia Australia has said the fuel sources aren’t going anywhere, anytime soon.

The brand’s local boss, Damien Meredith, said it was important to be able to offer Aussies choice and affordable, safe new cars.

“We’re not Norway, we’re Australia. We’re a big country and we need choice, we’ve got to make sure the people can afford to buy new, safe cars that are reliable. We take that seriously,” said Meredith.

“We’re proud of our mix of sales. We sell cars that are $20,000 and we sell cars that are $130,000, so we want to make sure what we sell is acceptable to what the market wants.”

Kia Australia’s Head of Product Planning, Roland Rivero, said there are plenty of new petrol and diesel models in the pipeline, which shows their commitment to that claim.

“They aren’t going anywhere. We never said we are going to go 100 per cent EV,” said Rivero.

“We’ve got a diesel Tasman coming out next year, so we’re not saying diesel’s dead. We’ve got an internal combustion K4 coming out next year, so we’re still very much in the mix of ICE (internal combustion engine),” he said.

The Kia Cerato-replacing K4 will arrive in showrooms early next year in sedan form, followed by a hatchback version.

The Mexican-built small car will be sold with a choice of a 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine and a 1.6-litre turbocharged four-pot petrol motor, which are carried over from the outgoing Cerato.

The non-turbo motor will be paired with an automatic continuously variable transmission (CVT) and the turbo engine is matched to an eight-speed auto, ditching the dual-clutch gearbox from the outgoing Cerato.

Kia is launching the Tasman with a 2.2-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine that makes 154kW and 441Nm paired with an eight-speed automatic transmission with the power sent to two- or four-wheel drive depending on specification.

Kia has torpedoed the idea of a halo model for now to take on V6-powered versions of the Ford Ranger and Volkswagen Amarok citing the majority of ute sales are made up of four-cylinder variants.

Kia will bolster its range of hybrids in 2025, according to Kia Australia Chief Operating Officer, Dennis Piccoli.

“What you’ll see through 25 is more variants of hybrid and plug-in hybrid, we’ll reach down deeper into the variant list of  Sorento, Sportage and Carnival,” he said.

Piccoli expects Kia to sell about 10,000 to 11,000 hybrids next year.

A hybrid Tasman is off the menu for now, but Rivero said the vehicle had been designed with a number of fuel sources in mind and the company can adapt to market forces quickly if needed.