Who is going to buy the 2025 Kia Tasman? Kia Australia said opinion is changing on Ford Ranger, Toyota HiLux and Isuzu D-Max rivalling dual-cab ute as expressions of interest soar

The Kia Tasman was one of the most hyped new car reveals of 2024, but has it hit the mark with Australia ute shoppers?

Kia Australia’s marketing chief, Dean Norbiato, said the brand is aiming to get eight to 10 per cent of the market in Australia, which is about 20,000 to 25,000 sales.

The company has a significant number of expressions of interest in the new ute, according to Norbiato.

“After launch we’re steadily putting on expressions of interest of about 60 per day. So we are just under 20,000 at the moment.”

He said it is mostly private buyers looking to get in early with the Tasman.

“It is overwhelmingly private at this stage,” he said. “Now that’s probably the nature of expressions of interest, which is probably more private aligned that we’ve seen in the past, but it’s starting to grow in that fleet space.”

Norbiato admitted expressions of interest don’t necessarily translate into sales, but with more fleet opportunities to come on board the company is on track to hit its sales aspirations.

“We’re confident from a position of overall sales volume targets that we have with that model and the product and the specification, that we’re in a good position. So yeah, really confident with the Tasman,” he said.

The Tasman’s design was a big talking point after launch, with the internet mainly panning the look of the new ute.

Norbiato said the worm has started to turn in that regard.

“Obviously, you’re all aware of the commentary around launch from an aesthetic standpoint, but we’re really starting to see a narrative shift in terms of opinion. “

“We are seeing a separation in opinion from the initial launch,” he said.

Kia’s global VP of Next Interior Design, Jochen Paesen, previously said people will get used to the design, which was intended to stand out from the outset.

“This is really, really important for Kia, we want to make sure that we have a clear identity. It does stand out. We are new to the market. It needs to be noticed. And generally, and this is generally for design, if you want to be progressive, if you want to stand out, if you want to do something new, you will go through a process of getting people used to it,” he said.

“But for something to be new, for something to be, at first, maybe needing to get used to, that's actually not a problem. That's actually quite a good thing because we do believe that that will give us a product that ultimately, once people get used to it, stands out, and stands out for good reasons.”

The Tasman for now will stick with the 2.2-litre turbodiesel motor making 154kW and 441Nm. Kia isn’t going to develop 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, according to Kia Australia head of product planning Roland Rivero.

“We’ve got to navigate through NVES, and at the moment it's the 2.2-litre turbodiesel. Right now we’ve got to get our fundamentals right, and over 80 per cent of the category is still four-cylinders,” he said.

The door has been left open for a hybrid version in the future, though.

“We’ve got a platform with Tasman that can underpin multiple powertrains, and it’s going to have a long life. All light commercial vehicles have a long life and the market is going to shift,” said Rivero.

“The market is going to change over the next 10 years. We've got to be quite nimble and expect that we can respond accordingly to what the market will command over the course of NVES and whatever comes our way.”

That hybrid Tasman could be powered by the brand’s 2.5-litre turbocharged petrol engine matched to an electric motor that will reportedly find a home in the new Palisade large SUV, which would suggest some serious grunt and pulling power.