Kia News

Has Kia just revealed its hybrid hero that will take on the Ford Ranger Raptor? The brand has just revealed the thumping WKNDR concept at the Seoul Motor Show, which would also happen to be the perfect vehicle to house the heavily rumoured 2.5-litre turbo-hybrid powertrain expected to make its debut in the Tasman.

Ford Australia has axed so many of its cars over the past two years that it almost has nothing left on sale. It’s just lucky that one of the few cars left that it does sell — the Ranger ute —  does so in enormous numbers. So what’s missing from Ford’s line-up? A lot. Here are the cars we think Ford really needs in Australia right now.Ford lacks a rival, to not just to hardcore four-wheel drives like the Toyota LandCruiser and Nissan Patrol, but to more domesticated Aussie family favourites such as the Toyota Kluger, Kia Sorento and Hyundai Santa Fe.Yes, the Ford Everest seats seven and can go off-road with the best of them, but a more plush and comfortable suburban cruiser would fit nicely in the line-up.Now this might hurt a little bit and I apologise in advance, but in South Africa you can buy a Ford Territory. I know, what the Ford!?So, the South African Ford Territory is made in China and sold in other countries but it’s made in right-hand drive, which means there’s no reason why we can’t have it here.This new Territory isn’t as big as the Santa Fe at 4.63m long so it’s not really a large SUV but still, what a shame.What Australia really needs is a Ford Explorer, as in the petrol-powered version form the United States, not the UK electric version. The US Explorer is a a five-metre long seven seater, while the UK version is 4.4m and smaller than an Escape.Nope, bigger is better in this case and while the Explorer is currently only made in left hand drive, there is a chance a right hand drive might get the green light for the next-gen model.Ford axing the Escape is the car company equivalent to throwing away your only pair of pants just because you don’t like the colour of them.OK, that’s a terrible analogy but the point is mid-sized SUVs are the bread and butter of car brands and they sell all year long in large numbers and they’re kind of an essential item to car manufacturers. Ford axed the Escape because it didn’t sell enough of them. But it could easily bring back the Escape because it’s sold in the right-hand drive in the UK.Ford should seriously consider it, the mid-sized SUV segment is increasing in size at 19.6 per cent market share and Ford’s not able to join in the spoils. Toyota has the RAV4, Kia has the Sportage, Nissan has the X-Trail and Ford has nothing. No pants to wear at all.If there’s something Australians love almost as much as mid-sized SUVs it’s a small SUV. We’re talking the likes of the Toyota Corolla Cross, Hyundai Kona and the MG ZS. And Ford did have the Puma, but axed it in 2024 just four years after it arrived.The Puma was a high-quality feeling and premium looking SUV, but it was overpriced compared to its rivals and so sales struggled. People want premium looking at budget prices apparently.The Puma is sold in the UK as a hybrid and a fully-electric vehicle, so bringing it to Australia wouldn’t require anything other than a trip on a boat from Romania where they’re made.So there you are, Ford has pretty much all the cars it needs in right-hand drive to take the fight to rivals such as the Toyota RAV4 and Corolla Cross, the Kia Sorento and Hyundai Santa Fe.Will we see the Territory again? Will Aussies be OK with a Chinese made Territory? Given the the shift in attitudes and growing maturity towards Chinese brands and their rapid take-up there's no reason they wouldn't be.Sure bringing back the Territory nameplate, plus the Puma and Escape could be a risk for Ford, but would it be as big a risk as having all your eggs in the Ranger basket as it does now?

The top-selling Kia Carnival people mover will gain two new more affordable hybrid variants as part of a 2026 model year (MY26) update.These new Carnival S Hybrid and Sport+ Hybrid variants will supplement the existing range-topping Carnival GT-Line Hybrid.According to pricing database RJ Pound, they’re priced from $56,100 before on-roads and $68,330 before on-roads, respectively.This is around $5500 more expensive than the corresponding V6 petrol variant and $3300 more than the corresponding turbo-diesel variant.This entry-level Carnival S Hybrid is more than $20,000 cheaper than the flagship Carnival GT-Line Hybrid.The rest of the petrol- and turbo-diesel-powered Carnival range has received a price rise of $270. A full pricing table is at the bottom of this story.Kia Australia has confirmed there are no specification changes to the Carnival range for the 2026 model year, besides the addition of the new hybrid variants. They're due to start arriving at local showrooms during May.The fourth-generation Kia Carnival launched in Australia during 2021 and it received a mid-life update in 2024.Still offered in both V6 petrol and four-cylinder turbo-diesel powertrains, the petrol-electric hybrid powertrain joined the lineup a few months after the mid-life update arrived.The Kia Carnival has dominated the people mover sales chart for years now. In the first four months of 2025, a total of 3213 examples have been sold, which is up 36.5 per cent year-on-year.For context, the next best-selling people mover is currently the Hyundai Staria with only 357 sales. That’s almost 10 Carnival sales to one Staria sale.With the addition of these new Carnival Hybrid variants, it remains to be seen whether Kia Australia will introduce more hybrid variants to other models in its lineup.It currently offers the Sportage SX and GT-Line Hybrid variants, the Sorento GT-Line Hybrid, as well as the Sorento GT-Line PHEV.

What is the best car to drive for a ride hailing service like Uber, Ola and Didi? Well, we thought we’d give you our two cents. Not only are we car experts and have driven thousands of new vehicles but we also spend a surprising amount of time sitting in the back of ride share cars talking to drivers. 

Kia Australia has some sway when it comes to the Tasman, with our know-how having a big effect on the ute globally.The brand's local Chief Ride and Handling Engineer, Graeme Gambold, explained how the brand was aware of the monumental task it faced in making something competitive for Australia.“One of the big challenges for us, for this vehicle, is because of this market’s dominance. When we were doing the initial discussions with Korea, we were saying, you know, you’re entering into the Olympic Games of utes coming to Australia, so it’s got to be very good and that means a very wide user demographic. We have fully laden operators and we’ve got people who are looking for unladen urban SUV-style ride dynamics.” he said.“So the whole dynamic package and ride and feeling package has been tuned around trying to optimise the balance point in those conflicting requirements. We think we’ve got it in a very good place.”The Tasman gets an Australian-specific tune, complete with standard frequency-selective shock absorbers and hydraulic rebound stoppers, as well as “optimised” bushings in the lower front control arms and rear leaf springs.In addition, the brand said Australian input was significant when it came to the shift mapping for the eight-speed traditional torque converter automatic transmission, and the software features for towing.In a rapidly changing dual-cab landscape though, with hybrids already having an impact via BYD’s Shark 6 and the long-awaited Ford Ranger PHEV, does Kia Australia think it’s put its best foot forward when it comes to powertrain, especially in an increasingly tight emissions environment thanks to Australia’s new vehicle efficiency standards (NVES)?The brand’s Australian General Manager of Product Planning, Roland Rivero thinks so: “I think for our first foray into the ute category we’ve chosen the right one” he said of the Tasman’s sole 2.2-litre turbo diesel engine, sourced from the brand’s passenger car range.“Other markets have got the 2.5-litre turbo petrol, not great for us when it comes to an NVES perspective. It’s got a little more power but down on torque so I think we’ve got the right one for our market and obviously we can monitor it and move forward with what needs to be done under NVES.”“We need to get the fundamentals right, and over 80 per cent of this category is four cylinder diesel,” he said.Rivero said “In this category the diverseness of usage is unparalleled. At the end of the day you know, others will experiment and obviously try new things out, which is great, it’s good to have that healthy competition, but you can’t deny that there are going to be customers which still have a very definitive need by way of towing capacity, payload, off-road capability and a locking rear diff, for example.”Kia also has bold sales predictions for the Tasman to help justify the cost of production for a ground-up ute in the years leading up to its launch. According to information revealed by the brand at a recent Investor Day, it intends to sell 80,000 Tasmans globally, with the local division aiming to do 20,000 units of the ute annually.As the Australian division’s Chief Operating Officer Dennis Piccoli said, the Tasman will need to make up a significant portion of Australian ute sales if it is to hit its targets. Something the team is confident it will be able to do despite challenges, like the ute market plateauing out in the first months of 2025 after some years of reasonable growth.“The market might be back a little at the moment and it’s moved forward a bit in the last couple of years — Ford with Ranger has been very active. The market at the end of the day is probably well into now. In terms of where we’re going to sell cars, the reality is that we think that our market share will probably equate to eight, nine, ten per cent and we’ll be pulling a couple of percentage points off the major players," said Piccoli.When pushed as to whether this means HiLuxes or GWM Cannons, Piccoli added: “The market is going to become very, very fragmented, that’s pretty obvious with the number of products coming through, so we’re happy to take a couple of cars off everybody.”While the brand added it had up to 2000 firm orders in the bag already, it didn’t have enough information yet to determine from where those orders were coming in terms of buyers trading in rival products.“Once the dealers start selling, we’ll get that information on what those trades are,” added Kia Australia CEO, Damien Meredith.Order books for the Tasman are open now, although first customer deliveries aren’t expected until late June or early July.

Geely is considering introducing a cheaper SUV to Australia, in the shape of the Cityray.

Kia details unique features of its top-spec X-Pro Tasman, as it takes aim at high-spec private ute buyers.

Does size matter? It’s an age-old question but when it comes to cars, it’s complicated.Most car reviews - rightly - will cover whether the model represents good value for money. That will usually include a focus on what is and isn’t included in the standard features list, the safety offering, quality of materials and more.Often this will include whether you get enough metal for your money. Is the car big enough for the price?My question is, should size factor into the value of a car? And how do you fairly determine value when each buyer has a different budget?I understand that everyone has different requirements when looking for a new car. A family of five will require more space than a family of two, or a single person, for example.But I would argue that size should not determine whether a car represents good or bad value for money.Again, I appreciate that many people will want as much car as they can get for their money, based on how they will use it. But surely things like overall vehicle quality, the drive experience and how the car makes you feel are just as important.Here’s an example. A Honda Civic e:HEV L costs $49,900 (drive-away). When compared with old foes like the Mazda3 and Toyota Corolla, it is seen as being quite a lot of money for a small hatchback.For roughly the same price as the Civic, you could buy an entry grade large seven-seat SUV like a Kia Sorento, Hyundai Santa Fe, Isuzu MU-X, or a Toyota Kluger.But just because you can get a bigger car for the same price, should you?If you don’t need the space, then I say you shouldn’t. And not just for reasons like the environmental impact of large vehicles, or the sheer space it takes up on the road. Although those reasons are also valid.If a smaller car ticks other boxes including being fun to drive, that should be enough.Back to my example - the Honda Civic hybrid is an excellent car. I would argue it’s the best small passenger car (as in, not an SUV) on sale in Australia. It has excellent build quality, a solid standard features list, a handsome design, nicely executed interior and an exceptional and efficient powertrain.Something like that is a perfect car for me. And I don’t feel like I would be ripped off buying this instead of a larger car.Similarly, if someone has the means to buy a premium car instead of something from a mainstream brand, that’s fine. As Donna Meagle famously said in Parks and Recreation, “Treat yo’self!”Sure, a circa-$60,000 BMW 120 hatch may not have the same level of standard features as a higher grade Toyota Corolla or Mazda3 - which cost $20,000 less - but who cares?If you have your heart set on a premium car like a BMW and you’ve got the money for it, then it doesn’t matter if it’s missing a few features.Whether it’s the materials in the cabin, the way it drives or the feeling you get when driving a premium European car, a model like that often just feels more special.A couple of years back I lived with a Peugeot 308 Premium GT hatchback for four months. That specific grade at the time was priced at $48,990 before on-road costs. Again, there was a lot of commentary about that being a lot of money “for a small hatchback”.I am not suggesting it’s cheap - it clearly isn’t. But that is an excellent little car that made me smile every time I got behind the wheel. I would be happy - proud even - to own one.To reiterate, there is nothing wrong with trying to get as much car as possible for your budget. If you want as many standard features as you can possibly get for $40k, and you are less fussed about how the car drives or its perceived quality, terrific. And there’s no shortage of options, especially with the growing number of Chinese brands offering affordable models.But equally, no one should be shamed for spending big bucks on a car that isn’t the size of a boat, or if it doesn’t tick every single box on the standard features list.

The Kia EV3 has only just launched in Australia with its first sales registered in March 2025, but Kia has another, smaller member of its EV family up its sleeve.The Kia EV2 is a Europe-focused, all-electric light SUV set to share a family resemblance with the EV3, EV5, EV6 and EV9.Given the popularity of small, affordable electric cars in Australia - and the fact Kia expects to sell the EV3 in its thousands per year - it would make sense that Kia Australia would be interested in a smaller, more affordable city-friendly electric car.After all, sibling brand Hyundai offers the Inster light electric SUV in Australia.At the launch of the Kia EV3 earlier this year, CarsGuide asked Kia Australia General Manager of Product Planning Roland Rivero about the local plan for the EV2.“We'd love to bring it in. The only issue we have with EV2 - and EV4 hatchback too for that matter as well - is it's produced out of Slovakia,” Rivero said. “Most of that production capacity is slated for Western Europe, for the European market.”Kia Australia has brought cars in from Slovakia before, most notably the Sportage SUV in 2013 when it aimed to get a more consistent supply than South Korea was able to provide.According to Rivero, the brand learned getting cars from Slovakia brought with it some hurdles. Kia Australia now sources the Sportage from the Gwangju facility in South Korea.“So one, it would be probably difficult to get some supply, because it's targeting Europe. And two, logistically it'll be difficult as well.“There's no port in Slovakia, so you've got to actually put them on a train to a port in Germany, and then it's transshipped to the west side via Singapore, for example.“So it's not the most ideal… and we've been through that with Pro_Cee'd GT in the past and SL Sportage.“It’s not easy to bring cars in from Slovakia. It’s just not practical at the moment.”The EV2 hasn’t been properly launched yet, while the Kia EV4 mentioned by Rivero is confirmed for Australia in sedan form only - not as a hatchback.The EV4 is similar in size to the brand’s K4, the replacement to the Kia Cerato, which is currently available in Australia in sedan guise.

On the back of its global reveal in February this year Kia has launched its PV5 electric people mover and light-commercial van in the UK, with that market’s right-hand drive configuration enhancing the one-box newcomer’s chances of making an appearance locally.Offered in Passenger, Cargo, Crew and Chassis Cab versions, and built at Kia’s new Hwaseong EVO plant in South Korea, the PV5 is powered by either a 51.5kWh or 71.2kWh NCM battery, with an additional 43.3kWh LFP option for the Cargo.Drive is delivered by a single, front-mounted electric motor producing 120kW/250Nm with a (spec dependent) range of up to 400km and a 10-80 per cent fast charging time of 30 minutes.At just over 4.6m long, 1.9m wide and 1.9m tall, with a 2995mm wheelbase, the standard EV5 is shorter overall (-67mm), narrower (-85mm) and lower (-24mm) with less distance between the axles (6.0mm) than an equivalent version of VW’s ground-breaking ID. Buzz.The Passenger model features a flexible interior layout with its eight seats hugely variable thanks to a ‘fold-and-dive’ seating design while maintaining what Kia says is multiple storage spaces and generous luggage capacity.Cargo EV5s come in various flavours, including Standard, Long, and High-roof variants, with the latter available in a ‘Walk-Through’ version.According to Kia, the Cargo offers maximum load space of 5.1m³ and is capable of accommodating two Euro pallets with V2L capability included. A two-seat layout is standard with a three-seat arrangement optional.The Chassis Cab’s flat structure, with side collision protection for the battery, includes additional mounting brackets for drop-side, deck and box-body applications.And Kia will expand the PV5 Cargo range in 2026 with a L1/H1 or larger L2/H2 variant, as well as an in-factory wheelchair accessible conversion.UK pricing for the PV5 Cargo starts at £33,174, rising to £39,594 for the entry-level Passenger model (both including VAT), which equates to around $68,900 and $82,200, respectively.Add in local shipping, duty and distribution costs and those numbers would undoubtedly come closer to the ID.Buzz Cargo three-seater at $79,990 and ID. Buzz Pro five-seater at $87,990, both before on-road costs.When asked if the PV5’s UK launch pointed to a local launch for the electric van Kia Australia told CarsGuide, “Kia Australia is keen to receive as many new EV models as we can, including PV5. We have our hand up, but it hasn’t been confirmed for Australia yet.”