Kia Tasman News

In recent years the pointy end of the Australian new vehicle sales race has reflected our seemingly insatiable appetite for dual cab utes, with the Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux locked in a fierce arm wrestle to determine the annual winner.

Christmas is a fading memory, the New Year’s hangovers have cleared and we’re still getting used to writing ‘2025’ so you know what that means?Hot takes time.Yes, it’s January and with a whole year of new cars ahead of us, I’m going to try and predict the future. But while these might meet the clickbait definition of a ‘hot take’ these aren’t just random thoughts, but rather these are five scenarios that I believe could play out in 2025 based on previous trends and the other available evidence.To be fair, I’m basing this at least in part to Toyota Australia boss Sean Hanley’s own prediction that he believes the RAV4 can leapfrog the Ford Ranger into first place. I agree with him that the Ranger will need to work hard to stay at the top of the charts, with its gap to the RAV4 less than 4000 sales in 2024.The Ranger will be entering its fourth year on sale, which means it no longer feels ‘new’ but is also too early for a mid-life upgrade, so it will need to rely on new additions like the Super Duty and plug-in hybrid to keep its interest high.The latter is really the key for Ford, with the Ranger PHEV having to face a direct rival in the form of the BYD Shark 6 - which wasn’t on the horizon when Ford announced its plug-in back in 2023.Meanwhile, the RAV4 remains beloved by SUV buyers, despite its many rivals, and Toyota is (reportedly) carrying over a healthy order bank that should maintain its steady sales pace.Whatever happens, it should be a close finish in the sales race.It’s safe to say Kia has copped some flak for the styling of its Tasman ute, which has raised concerns over its sales potential. But, personally, I think it will be a success story for Kia even if it doesn’t achieve the headline-grabbing sales figures the brand is hoping for.Kia’s goal to sell more than 20,000 Tasmans per year is an ambitious target, even if the styling had been universally praised, given the strength of the Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux. But the truth is looks are subjective and the Tasman’s ultimate sales potential will come down to pricing and specifications. If Kia can give ute buyers a good value proposition, then undoubtedly many will jump aboard, regardless of what anyone says about the styling.Fleet operators who don’t care about subjective elements like style will likely be wooed by the expected five-star ANCAP rating and Kia’s reputation for reliability.Bottom line, even if Kia sells half of its expected numbers, adding 10,000 Tasmans to Kia’s tally is all incremental growth for a brand that has never previously offered a ute - and that will make it a big success.One of the key takeaways from the 2024 sales was the huge growth of hybrids (HEVs) and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) compared to the stalled sales of electric vehicles (EVs). Sales of pure electric models were only up 4.7 per cent after growing more than 160 per cent in 2023.That’s an enormous change of fortunes for EVs, which have always largely been underpinned by Tesla, which had a down year in 2024. Whether Tesla can rebound is one major question, with its sales down by more than 16,000 sales, but other brands will need to start selling more of their EVs if the market is to accelerate its growth again.It appears as though the market for EVs has largely been catered to, with a huge variety of makes and models across the spectrum of size and price, so there’s no longer any major barriers for EVs apart from consumer demand.Australians seem unconvinced by EVs in the broad sense, preferring dual-cab utes and mid-size SUVs with hybrid engines, and it seems unlikely to change in the short-term so I wouldn’t be betting on a big turnaround for electric sales in 2025.NVES, or the New Vehicle Efficiency Standards, grabbed plenty of headlines in 2024 as the car industry pushed back on long-overdue emissions regulations like kids not wanting to eat their vegetables. But despite the kicking and screaming from certain members of industry, NVES officially began on January 1 and the world hasn’t stopped turning.Inevitably there will be change thanks to NVES, with car brands needing to introduce more fuel-efficient vehicles or face financial penalties, however the government has effectively given the industry three years to sort itself out. Any brand above the limit in 2025 has until the end of 2027 to generate (or buy from a rival brand) ‘credits’ to offset their less-efficient models.In other words, expect ‘situation normal’ in 2025 with all the usual models you find in dealerships, albeit with a ramp up of more hybrids and PHEVs like we’ve begun to see in the last 18 months.Normally you’d expect the arrival of two big name models, which nearly double the options for buyers, to result in a sales boom for a particular market. And yet, despite the introduction of the Ford F-150 and Toyota Tundra, sales of ‘$100k plus utes’ (otherwise known as the US-style pick-ups) were up just a marginal 2.4 per cent in 2024.The segment still sold more than 10,000 units in 2024, which is an impressive number when you consider these are expensive and niche vehicles, but the arrival of the Ford and Toyota should have been a boost. They certainly helped offset the sales decline of the Ram 1500, which dropped as the current V8-powered model entered run-out, but it speaks to the limitations of the market.With the arrival of the new six-cylinder Ram 1500 to go along with the F-150 and Tundra, it’s hard to see the total volume of $100k plus utes getting much higher than 10,000 per year.

A new year brings a fresh array of vehicles for Australia — but some get us more excited than others.

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 cat is out of the bag — an electric Kia Tasman ute is coming and it’s been confirmed in a surprisingly casual way by one of the company bosses. All that's been announced by Kia until now is that its Tasman ute will be offered only with a diesel engine in Australia at launch. A hybrid is tipped to follow.The latest confirmation of a fully electric version came while United States motoring website CarBuzz interviewed Kia South Africa's Head of Marketing Christo Valentyn at the Tasman ute launch recently."I'm probably not supposed to say this, but... an electric one is coming," Valentyn told the outlet.The casual manner in which such big news was delivered is surprising. This is the first confirmation from Kia that an electric version of the Tasman is coming and Valentyn may have landed himself in some very hot water for making an announcement that we would have expected to be revealed in a more official capacity.   Given Kia’s major electric vehicle push right now, it’s not surprising that an electric Tasman is coming. Various electric Kia utes have been spied testing (via The Korean Car Blog) in the wild, too.Still, this is big news because Kia might have managed to do what other established ute brands, such as Ford with its Ranger, Toyota with the HiLux and Mitsubishi with the Triton, have failed to do — bring an electric ute to market.LDV was the first company to bring an electric ute to Australia, but bring only two-wheel drive and having a limited range saw slow sales. It will be replaced by the brand's eTerron 9 next year.Kia revealed the Tasman ute's vital specification in late October. The ute will arrive with a 2.2-litre diesel engine making 154kW and 441Nm, and have an eight-speed transmission.A 3500kg braked towing capacity and impressive off-road capacity will make it a direct rival to the Ranger, HiLux, Isuzu D-Max and Triton. A petrol-electric hybrid variant has been all-but confirmed by Kia, with specifications yet to be fully disclosed.The big question now that the cat is indeed out, is when is the Tasman electric ute coming?CarsGuide put the question to Kia Australia General Manager of Product Planning Roland Rivero.“All I can confirm is that Tasman’s ladder frame platform is fairly modular and can underpin numerous powertrains,” Rivero said.  “For now, Australia will only introduce the R2.2 Turbo Diesel. However, Tasman like many light commercial vehicles will have a fairly long model life and as such we will continually look at other powertrain options in the future in light of NVES and market demand... There are no sacred cows.”To us it’s clear Kia will introduce an EV Tasman once the diesel variant has found a foothold in Australia.It’s been a big year for Kia with the brand bringing its fourth fully electric vehicle to Australia with the EV5 mid-sized SUV in October.Kia Australia year-to-date sales are sitting at 75,485, up by seven per cent on this time in 2023 and with a month left of the year that places the brand in fourth place ahead of its sibling Hyundai.  

Some cars just seem to inspire such blind loyalty – such frothing, furious devotion – that they can get away with anything. And sometimes that 'anything' becomes very clear once a rival product launches.

Kia will launch an "unprecedented" pre-launch campaign for its new Tasman ute, essentially touring the country to connect customers with the vehicle so they can see, sit in and experience the brand's first dual-cab for themselves.

The impending demise of diesel in Australia has been greatly exaggerated, at least according to Kia executives, who insists diesel engines have "got a lot of mileage left in our country."

An electric variant of the Kia Tasman has reportedly been seen testing under camouflage in the brand’s native South Korea.

Kia says those doubting the Tasman’s boundary-pushing exterior design need to see the model in the metal before making up their minds, as the brand said the “controversy” surrounding the vehicle’s unveiling will subside as Australians “get used to it”.