Kia News

Kia has revealed pricing for its upcoming next-generation tradie van, the PV5.Starting at $55,990 before on-road costs for its single launch Cargo S Long Range variant, the PV5 is more affordable than all of its key rivals, setting the new price-to-beat for the electric tradie van segment.Equipped with a 71.2kWh NMC battery pack, the PV5 has a WLTP-certified range of 416km. Kia is yet to lock in any more local specifications for the van, with further details to be revealed imminently at the Melbourne Motor Show.However, from equivalent European spec, we can see this single motor front-wheel drive version with the 71.2kWh battery is powered by a 120kW/250Nm electric motor.It has a torsion-beam rear suspension and 16-inch alloy wheels (or 16-inch steel wheels), and LED lighting on the outside, with a 7.5-inch digital dash and 12.9-inch multimedia touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto on the inside.Overseas versions with the long range battery are also equipped with a vehicle-to-load function, both with a three-pin port inside and via the external charging port for powering devices from the van’s battery, as well as the full active safety suite and over-the-air update functionality.Charging from 10 - 80 per cent is completed in less than 30 minutes, according to equivalent UK versions, thanks to a peak charging speed of 150kW, with 11kW AC charging delivering a 10 - 100 per cent charge in six hours, 30 minutes.UK market versions have the PV5 Cargo wielding a 4420 litre load space, which can accommodate two Euro-sized pallets with a 790kg payload. The tailgate features barn doors and a 419mm rear step height for easy loading. Built-in LED illumination, protective trims, mounting points and track rails can be optionally added.Expect to learn more about the PV5 imminently, but it is set to make a splash in the segment. At $55,990, it becomes the most affordable fully electric van, unseating the previous price-leading Peugeot e-Partner Pro LWB and Renault Kangoo E-Tech SWB, both of which start at $61,990 and are a full size down.The more size-equivalent LDV eDeliver 7 SWB starts from $69,463 (drive-away), while the most affordable Volkswagen ID.Buzz Cargo starts from $69,990. The next port-of-call in the segment is the Farizon SuperVan SWB which moves into the $70k-plus category.The PV5 will debut Kia’s new range of electric commercial vehicles to Australia, which will also eventually see the addition of the larger PV7, as the brand looks to capitalise on its low-emissions advantage over its key rivals and even its Hyundai sister brand.

Fuel type and engine set-up are becoming increasingly important factors in people's new car buying thinking, exclusive data reveals, with rising fuel prices making buyers even more vigilant.Diversity of engine set-up choices have increased substantially in the past few years. Buyers can pick from internal combustion, hybrid or electric.It appears this choice is encouraging buyers question what is best for them when they enter the showroom.The data is part of Gumtree Group's The Next Gear: Australia in Motion report and was gathered from 4,400 people who used Gumtree, CarsGuide and AutoTrader in 2025. According to exclusive data, fuel type is the primary consideration for 40 per cent of prospective buyers. This is an increase of 33 per cent year-on-year demonstrating how fuel type has become more important. Among the biggest considerations for prospective buyers is that 52 per cent of those surveyed said they would consider hybrid, while 39 per cent said they consider plug-in hybrid. This represents substantial year-on-year increases. It lines up with sales boosts to hybrid and plug-in hybrid models over the past 12 months at the expense of internal combustion alternatives.Another choice increasingly peaking the interests of buyers in Australia is fully-electric vehicles, which have seen a substantial boost in sales. According to Gumtree’s data, one-in-three prospective buyers said they would consider an electric car for their next purchase, which is an increase of 57 per cent compared to 2024.Expect these figures to increase further in the coming months as fuel prices rise further. This is despite hybrid and electric cars often incurring an initial purchase premium on internal combustion, which is paid off over time courtesy of less fuel use.Many of the top-selling brands are pivoting to hybrids in light of NVES, such as Toyota, Kia and Hyundai. As well as Chinese brands such as BYD which only offer electrified powertrains.Even utes are starting to offer hybrid options, like the popular BYD Shark 6, while the Ford Ranger has a PHEV variant. Chery will bring across a diesel PHEV showing the diversity of hybrid options. 

Electric vehicle sales are booming in a way they never have before in Australia. Buyer options have increased significantly in 2026, with more affordable choices also appearing more regularly. There were 15839 electric vehicle sales for March in 2026, up from 8385 compared to this time last year, representing a near 89 per cent year-on-year growth. Established SUV players such as the Tesla Model Y lead the way with 2818 sales, along with the BYD Sealion 7 (1970). There are also some new competitors climbing up the sales charts, such as the Zeekr 7X performance SUV, which managed 679 registrations for March, having launched late last year.The Tesla Model 3 sedan (667) continues to be present among the top sellers despite its prolonged downturn.The SUV trend continues as Geely’s EX5 (606) and the Kia EV5 (587) are next on the list, before BYD’s presence resumes with the Atto 2 small SUV (572). Another new EV making an early impression is the Jaecoo J5, which launched at the start of this year and achieved 569 sales last month. The BYD Atto 1 (488) and Atto 2 (466) also make the list along with the Kia EV3 (461). Hatchbacks are proving popular amongst EV buyers as well. The MG4 (451) remains among the strongest selling EVs, as does the BYD Dolphin (373). The Toyota bZ4X is also experiencing an upturn to 447 sales for March and BYD is represented again with its Seal sedan (337) to round out the top 15. Top selling electric cars Australia March 2026

With all due respect to GAC and its plans for a new dual-cab ute — please don’t. Same goes for Hyundai, which has been talking up its plans for a ute in recent months, and Chery that has a yet-to-be-named new ute incoming. We have enough utes in this country.That might sound like a ‘click-bait, hot take’ (and it partially is) but it’s also very much true. The ute market in Australia is getting over-crowded and new additions will make it even more densely packed.Don’t take my word for it, Sean Hanley, the former sales and marketing boss of Toyota has been saying we’ve reached ‘peak ute’ for more than a year. Coming from a man who oversaw the enduring sales success of the HiLux and introduced the Tundra to Australia, that’s a notable position to take. Speaking in January 2025, Hanley said he wasn’t confident that more utes arriving would equal more sales overall.“I’m not necessarily sharing a view that it's going to grow astronomically because of the new entrants,” he said. “It may, I could be wrong, but it’ll be interesting to watch.“Looking towards the future, we already know that the number of ute models available to Australian buyers will expand rapidly. “They’ll be competing for an overall ute market that is likely to remain steady, which suggests that the average sales per model will come down as a result.”That hypothesis was proved correct when the 2025 sales were tallied. The ute segment grew only 2.7 per cent between 2024 and ‘25, despite 12 new entrants from several new brands — including Kia, BYD, MG, Foton and GWM.Go back five years and look at the difference between 2021 and ‘25 and the idea of hitting ‘peak ute’ comes into even greater focus. In that span there was 5.9 per cent sales growth but a 41 per cent increase in the available number of models. Hanley followed up his January comments with more at the launch of the new HiLux late in 2025.“So when I say the ute market's peaked, what I mean is that, well, exactly that, it's peaked. But it's still a significant market, and it will be for the future,” he told CarsGuide."But I think that whole ute market's going to be crazy for the next couple of years. So in the end it doesn't matter what I think. It matters what customers think.”Nissan Oceania Managing Director Andrew Humberstone, seemingly along with GAC and Hyundai management, believes the contrary and the ute market has increased volume in its future.“I don't want to really talk specifically about numbers, but we see certainly an increase in volume,” he told CarsGuide in December ‘25.While BYD has made strong in-roads into the ute market with the Shark 6, cementing itself as a top five selling dual-cab, the reality for most of these new players is they are attracting relatively small volumes.Kia, which set a public goal of 10,000 sales by the end of ‘25 managed less than half of that (4196), while despite a competitive price and bigger-than-average size, the MG U9 managed only 472 sales in the few months it was on sale. Foton split 177 sales between its Tunland V7 and V9 since they hit the market in late ‘25.But even some models that were on sale for the full year in 2025 fared poorly. The Jeep Gladiator found just 332 buyers, while the Isuzu D-Max, Mitsubishi Triton, Nissan Navara and Volkswagen Amarok all experienced sales drops.Of course, this story won’t stop the new utes from GAC, Hyundai and Chery coming, nor any other brand that wants to join in, but the reality is none are likely to dramatically increase the size of the overall ute market. Instead, the share of the market will just get divided up into smaller and smaller pieces.In the end, natural selection will play its part and the models that don’t sell will simply be overlooked by buyers and are likely to disappear eventually. One way or another, Australia will not have an endlessly growing number of utes to choose from.

Utes have been affected substantially by increasing fuel prices, thanks to their large fuel tanks and often thirsty turbo-diesel engines.Diesel fuel prices have jumped to more than $3 per litre, making filling up a diesel ute more expensive than ever.CarsGuide has compiled a list of all the diesel dual-cab pick-up utes on sale, calculating the yearly cost of each at $3.07 per litre (the average price in NSW on 31/3/26) over 15,000km.Isuzu Ute’s D-Max and Mazda BT-50 2.2-litre turbo-diesel variants are the efficiency leaders. The mechanically identical pair of utes cost $3038.02 in fuel in a year, averaging 6.6L/100km.The Ford Ranger’s single turbo-diesel 2.0-litre is next on the list, averaging 6.9L/100km, which equates to $3177.45 over 15,000km. The new mild hybrid Toyota HiLux also has a competitive efficiency figure of 7.1L/100km, which is a little cheaper in fuel than the standard turbo-diesel variants. Three-litre variants of the BT-50 and D-Max vary in cost, given fuel consumption fluctuates between 7.1L/100km and 7.8L/100km depending on the variant.The KGM Musso is one of the thirstiest of the utes, with its up to 9.0L/100km, costing more than $4000 over the course of a year.  The GWM Cannon Alpha diesel was the other ute to exceed the $4000 mark. Concluding the list are the gas guzzling full-size American pick-ups, in Ram’s 2500 and the Chevrolet Silverado HD. Both have V8 diesel engines with a capacity of more than 6.0-litres, meaning they cost more than $7000 over the course of a year.2026 ute fuel figures Australia  *Dependent on variant**Ram does not provide official figures for fuel consumption. This figure is sourced from CarsGuide's real world testing.***Chevrolet does not provide official figures for fuel consumption. This figure is sourced from CarsGuide's real world testing.

Big, burly dual-cab utes are the flavour of the month, but this new generation of rugged workhorses could spawn a 4WD battle royale.The Ford Everest and Isuzu MU-X have largeky had the ute-based SUV market to themselves since Toyota axed the Fortuner late in 2025, but that could soon change.BYD's Denza has just launched its Shark 6-based B5 off-roader Down Under, which is ready to shake-up the Japanese establishment.It likely won't be the only Chinese brand to enter the fray.Chinese maker Chery is one of the latest makers to confirm a dual-cab ute, with its currently unnamed workhorse due to arrive later this year.For now codenamed — KP31 — the ute uses a revolutionary diesel plug-in hybrid set-up, which consists of  a 2.5-litre turbo-diesel engine paired with an electric motor or two and a sizeable battery.There is a chance it could spawn an SUV version down the line, according to Chery Australia Chief Operating Officer Lucas Harris.“It would be amazing if we could get an SUV on that platform,” said Harris.“It’s not something that’s been spoken about or in the plans now, but at the rate things change and develop, you never say never.”For now Chery’s focus is on making sure the ute is a success before they forge ahead with any spin-offs.“I believe Chery has one chance to prove that we can build and deliver a highly capable ute,” said Harris.“And so to do that, it needs towing capability, payload capability, all-terrain capability. Particularly all-terrain capability, you know, you get people towing caravans on the beach. You really do need the torque and power delivery that a diesel gives you down low to be able to do those things.”“I think we need to prove, and I am very confident that Chery can prove with KP31, that we’ve got some credibility in that space and can deliver a competent and capable vehicle,” Harris said.Chery's Korean rival Kia is also believed to be working on an SUV version of its Tasman ute.It is unlikely the SUV will appear before the vehicle’s facelift, which is believed to be 2028-2029.Kia Australia’s GM of Product Planning Roland Rivero previously told CarsGuide the focus for now was on the ute."Globally, we've got to make Tasman a success first and foremost," Rivero says."Once it is, and we're confident it will be, then we can look at growing variants and look at the ability to turn around an SUV."As you might have heard at the launch from our engineers, it's not difficult because the platform is already there. We're not starting from the ground up but we've got to get it right for the ute first and foremost."

Will the current war in Iran mean a ban on petrol and diesel vehicles? My view is no, it won’t directly cause a ban on combustion cars. But the ban is still coming and the Middle East conflict will fastrack it. For starters a date has already been set for ban on petrol and diesel cars in the United Kingdom, where from 2030 sales of new vehicles with combustion engines will cease. The European Union has a 2035 ban but previous to the Iran war this was watered down.China, which in February was our main source of vehicles, is also focused on building and developing electric cars.As for Australia, only the ACT has set a goal of phasing out the sale of new combustion powered cars by 2035.That could all change now and by this I mean be fastracked.Until now the reasons for switching to electric vehicles were mainly ethical and environmental, with emissions and cleaner air being the carrot. The problem is nobody really  wants to eat a carrot, even if it’s good for us. But faced with the prospect of not eating at all because the weekly fuel bill for two cars is now $300 and the price of groceries is going up because of the soaring cost of transport, that really changes things.Interest in electric vehicles has never been this strong. We can see it in real time by the traffic coming to carsguide.com.au and we know our competitors are witnessing the sharpening of this focus on EVs, too.Towards the start of 2025 there had been a slow down in global interest in EVs and a renewed take up of hybrids. The price premiums attached to electric cars, the limited driving range and lengthy charging times were to blame, but all things early adopters, and even slightly later ones, were willing to endure. The rest of the car buyers were too put off by the downsides of EVs and stuck with the convenience and familiarity of petrol or perhaps bought a hybrid. But now the price of convenience appears to be reaching a point where suddenly an EV sounds like a good idea. At the time of writing 95 RON premium unleaded was $2.70 per litre. An increase of about $1 per litre or 60 per cent in the space of a month. The prohibitive cost now of petrol combined with the looming threat of Australia running out of it in less than three weeks, plus reports of servicing stations already running dry now make an electric car suddenly seem like not such a bad idea after all, even to the most hardcore fans of fossil fuels.The problem is bigger than just consumers not being able to afford petrol, it’s the soaring cost of goods, which are distributed through Australia’s enormous freight network that relies on diesel.The Australian government is responsible for setting such low minimum fuel reserves all in the name of a free market. The current situation could see it either mandate that the industry maintain a higher level or reduce the risk entirely of being held hostage like this again and ban petrol and diesel car sales in favour of electric ones, which can be powered by a fuel we can produce ourselves.The second option wouldn’t be the choice of the $6 trillion-a-year global oil and gas industry. And an industry that’s worth that much has enormous sway.But then the collapse of entire economies wouldn’t be the choice of most governments.Decoupling from oil and gas is impossible in less than 50 or even 100 years. Whether we like it or not the industry pervades every part of our lives. Killing the industry would also see the collapse of entire economies.Plenty of car companies are ready for electric vehicles, especially new Chinese brands, but for many vehicle manufacturers EVs are a side hustle.This scenario play into the hands of new electric brands such as Zeekr with the 7X mid-szied SUV, BYD with the Sealion 7 SUV and even the established Koreans such as Kia with the EV3 small SUV.Does it mean the end of diesel SUVs such as the LandCruiser? Possibly, unless Toyota has an electric version up its sleeve ready to be pulled out in the next 10 years.So what you'll probably see is the EU and UK setting new firm deadlines for the discontinuation of sales for new cars with combustion engines at about 2035 or sooner. Australia will likely follow suit.Industry, freight and agriculture will be exempt until hydrogen infrastructure is in place and that will take much longer.What we may see in the short term is a temporary ban on the use of petrol and diesel passenger cars in order to preserve fuel stock for industry, freight and vital services such as emergency vehicles. That’s a real possibility if the war moves into an uncontrolled phase.So while the permanent ban of new petrol and diesel cars won’t be directly caused by the Iran war, it will be a catalyst for the ban. In the meantime, it’s probably wise anyway to purchase an EV anyway and provide a bit of security and future proofing for your own household, not to mention saving thousands in fuel bills each year.

Diesel utes have been the dominant forces in Australia for the past decade, but that could be about to change.The Ford Ranger and the Toyota HiLux have been the top two sellers in the past 10 years, and they combined for more than 100,000 sales in 2025.The pair have carried on this popularity into 2026, sitting at the top for January and February this year. Other diesel ute rivals such as the Isuzu Ute D-Max and Mitsubishi Triton are selling well. That could be all be about to change sooner than we thought. It could be the case that a perfect storm of external factors will wipe out the diesel in ute in Australia.There is a new factor is emerging that could accelerate the diesel ute’s seemingly inevitable decline. The price of diesel fuel has increased substantially more than petrol, approaching the $3 mark per litre.I went to fill up my diesel car the other day.As I pulled into the service station, a man had just finished filling up his V8 diesel LandCruiser 200 Series. $287 for 99L - he had not even brimmed the tank. You’d get a better rate when topping up your light aircraft with aviation fuel. He asked if I wanted to swap. I politely declined.No doubt big fleet buyers will be watching closely as the costs of purchasing and running these diesel utes shoots up, along with the potential increase in costs as NVES pressures creep in. Fleet sales are crucial to the success of the Ford Ranger and the Toyota HiLux, with them also contributing heavily to other ute brands.Fuel prices will also be an increasingly big head turner for private buyers. Alternatives such as the petrol plug-in hybrid BYD Shark 6 offer superior fuel efficiency when charged as well as being cheaper to fill up.Toyota announced its all-electric HiLux ute recently, which has been met with a mixed reception due to concerns over driving range and towing capacity, but it at least shows brands are already looking away from diesel. Chery’s incoming KP31 ute will debut in Australia this year with a diesel plug-in hybrid set-up, which is expected to have the 3500kg towing capacity. Something the Shark 6 currently lacks.The popularity of diesel hybrid set-ups will be an indication of the survival chances for the diesel ute in Australia. It could be argued the longer diesel prices continue to rise, the shorter the diesel ute's lifespan will be.Compounding this is new emissions laws.The Federal Government's National Vehicle Emissions Standard (NVES) delivered a rude awakening for some. The NVES sets emissions targets based on CO2 gram-per-kilometre limits. Vehicles sold that fall over the limit subsequently incur liabilities, which will attract hefty fines in the future for brands. Brands incur fines on vehicles sold, which have an interim emissions value of more than zero. Mazda, which sells its BT-50 ute in Australia among an internal combustion heavy lineup, accumulated a whopping more than 500,000 liabilities. Subsequently many brands, including Honda and Mazda have introduced priced increases across key internal combustion models this year.There appears to be two routes for brands. Either pass on the extra costs, or ditch diesel. Diesel utes could be about to skyrocket in price and brands scramble to account for fines on sales.In a more extreme example, Ford CEO Jim Farley recently threatened to axe the brand’s local engineering program responsible for the best-selling Ford Ranger.“Something your government, or any government, has to be very sensitive to around the CO2 glide path. We want to reduce our CO2 footprint, but there’s a level that the customer can’t afford, and not all duty cycles can be electrified,” Farley told CarsGuide.“It’s a completely open market and also pushing CO2 , arguably way beyond the customer requirements.“ needs to decide if they want to help us equalise the cost differential … because this is among the most expensive places to have engineers on the planet.”We have already seen somewhat of a winding back of Ford’s Ranger line-up Down Under, with the brand discontinuing sale of its bi-turbo diesel engine, in favour of a cleaner single turbo variant.

The recently-launched Kia K4 hatchback has just been recalled in Australia due to a seat belt fault, according to a notice from the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts.It concerns 4817 units in the 2025 and 2026 model years. “The rear centre seat belt anchor buckle may have been incorrectly assembled,” the notice reads."As a result, the seat belt may not properly latch or operate as intended.“In the event of an accident, if the seat belt does not properly latch or operate as intended, it will increase the risk of injury or death to vehicle occupants.”A spokesperson for Kia Australia said there have been no reported incidents of the fault occurring in Australia yet. Owners of affected K4 models will be contacted by the brand and asked to make an appointment with a Kia dealer to have the rear middle set belt anchor buckle inspected, and replaced if needed, free of charge. The K4 was launched in Australia late last year and is available in hatch or sedan body shapes as a petrol-only model.It has made a solid impression in the market in its first few months and outsold the Hyundai i30 and Mazda 3 so far in 2026

Hyundai’s Kona, now Australia’s best-selling small SUV, is set for a deeper upgrade than first expected, if a test mule spotted in its South Korean home market is anything to go by.Spotted by South Korean YouTubers, ShortsCar a camouflaged version of the the incoming new Kona has significant design changes more in line with a next-generation offering than the facelift it was expected to be.Among the changes highlighted by the channel, there’s a completely new light signature at the front, an even boxier profile, as well as a completely new roofline and door shapes.The Korean YouTubers point out that the test mule under scrutiny must be a Kona as it has markers on its wheels indicating it is a test model for the European market, where other models (like the smaller Creta or Venue) are not sold.The wheels also carry the expected code-name of the upcoming next-gen offering, SX3.As ShortsCar points out, this Kona test mule has many of the design signatures of the Crater concept car Hyundai displayed in 2025. This is indicated by the boxy bonnet features, new light profile, bulges over the rear wheel arches which appear to include the rear light clusters, and a pronounced spoiler piece over the tailgate.Interestingly the spotted car also features active aero pieces, and very short overhangs. There are also sporty blacked-out 18-inch wheels and sunken aerodynamic door handles.Korean media is also speculating the Kona will launch Hyundai’s upcoming Pleos Connect operating system from the Korean giant’s recently-established dedicated software brand, designed to lean into the ‘software defined vehicle’ concept.The Pleos Connect suite was shown in 2025 on what now appears to be a concept version of what could be the Kona’s new interior. The brand earmarked a quarter two, 2026 launch for the suite, and expects it to be available on “20 million vehicles by 2030".Based on Android Automotive, Pleos Connect is designed to completely overhaul the in-car software and will feature a refreshed interface, deeper over-the-air features (with the ability to tweak drivetrain features with a software update), new developer and fleet management tools, and the ability to collect mass amounts of data to train Hyundai’s future self-driving tech.Expect to learn more about the next-generation Kona imminently if it expects to meet its international launch window of mid-2026.Such a revolutionary change so soon after the launch of the existing Kona is also a risk for Hyundai. The small SUV was the top-selling small SUV in Australia last year, no doubt helped by a diverse powertrain offering and price points.It's priced from just $33,700 before on-road costs with a 2.0-litre petrol engine and continuously variable transmission (CVT), while the fuel-efficient hybrid is $36,950. It is available in fully electric form, starting from $54,000, with the range topping out with the Electric N-Line Premium at a whopping $71,000.Hyundai has emerged as a hybrid hero, taking second position last year for hybrid sales in Australia, tallying 28,819 units. This is double the previous year, and a positive sign for the Korean brand as its major models are nearly all more than 50 per cent hybrid by sales.However, its lack of solid EV sales (only two per cent of Hyundais sold in 2025 were EVs) thanks to its relatively expensive electric models meant the brand still managed to attract a penalty under Australia’s tough New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES), which tightens the vice on high emitters every year from now until 2030.