Kia’s New Tasman Pickup Looks Like No Other Truck on the Road
Kia’s long-awaited first entry into the pickup segment is aimed at global-market heavyweights like the Toyota Hilux and the Ford Ranger, and it’s going to be hard to ignore. While it’s too early to tell whether the Tasman is better than the competition, what’s certain is that it looks like nothing else on the road.
Years in the making, the Tasman was developed as a true off-roader with body-on-frame construction. It was designed in-house, it’s not a badge-engineered version of an existing model, and it’s available in a dizzying number of configurations ranging from a bare-bones workhorse with black steel wheels to a fairly upmarket cruiser with lots of screens. Two-door, four-door, and cab-chassis variants will be offered.
Kia claims the Tasman’s exterior design “follows its own path,” which is the least we can say. It features a wide, upright grille, headlights pushed as far out to the corners as possible, and funky-looking black plastic rectangles above the wheels. We’ll let you, dear reader, decide what to make of the styling. At least it’s not boring.
Designers took a more conventional approach to shaping the interior. Kia has only released pictures of the higher-end trims, which get a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, a 5.0-inch middle display, and a 12.3-inch touchscreen for the infotainment system. There are a lot of clever features scattered across the interior, including a center console that folds into a table, several hidden storage bins, and a household-type power outlet. The electronic driving aids even have a towing mode that takes the trailer into account.
At launch, the global range will include two engines. The first, which will likely be the volume engine, is a 2.2-liter turbodiesel four-cylinder rated at approximately 207 horsepower and 325 pound-feet of torque. It’s linked to either a six-speed manual or an eight-speed automatic. The second is a gasoline-burning 2.5-liter turbo-four that delivers about 277 horsepower and 310 pound-feet of torque and that’s only offered with an eight-speed automatic transmission. Rear and four-wheel-drive models will be available.
In its most capable configuration, the Tasman can tow up to 7,700 pounds and haul 2,600 pounds. The X-Pro trim level boasts nearly 10 inches of ground clearance and can drive through roughly 31 inches of water. Kia clearly designed its first pickup for demanding use cases and challenging road conditions.
Deliveries of the Kia Tasman are scheduled to start during the first half of the 2025 in South Korea, and the truck will later go on sale in Australia, Africa, and the Middle East. The company expects Saudi Arabia will stand out as one of the model’s main markets, and we’re betting that Australia will be big as well.
The United States is conspicuously absent from that list, and it’s not like we don’t buy trucks. Kia doesn’t even need to comment on why the Tasman won’t be sold here: it’s the Chicken Tax. The same 25% tariff that prevented Volkswagen from selling the single-cab Bus here in the 1960s is keeping the Tasman away.
My eyes
Kind of like it can’t make up its mind. Am I a Toyota, Jeep or Hummer?
Sorry not my thing but it will be someone else thing.
It’s the love-child of a Pontiac Aztek and an early ’60s school bus. Shrunk by Rick Moranis.
The plastic bits over the wheels look like great sediment/water traps.
Does look much better as a single cab with the flat deck. I wish those style of trucks were sold reasonable in North America (the Aussies get them).
Yep the flat deck is only half ugly. The bed looks good. Most of these trucks are conversion here so they really add to the price.
I was thinking Toyota bed grafted onto a Titan cab, but now I see the Hummer
It’s a bad medley of design elements. That front end is just “turrible” to quote Charles Barkley.
It looks like no other truck on the road? Were you wearing a welding mask? It looks like any of them. And just like every SUV on the road, you have to see the grille or tailgate to see what brand it is. You can have mine. I’ll pass.
Fugly.
A bare bones truck. No TV in the dash. A truck that is a truck not a extension of some teenage game room. How do I bring one into the country.
Doesn’t really matter. Not coming to the USA anyway. We have CAFE requirements to keep us safe from invasion!
I didn’t think anyone could produce an uglier vehicle than Toyota & Lexus – outside of the Cybertruck, which doesn’t even seem to be a vehicle to me. Kias of just a couple years ago were pretty attractive, but something’s gone awry over there !
Won’t miss it if it never arrives, dat is sho nuff fuggly!
Certainly not attractive to me, but I would applaud anything with a single, 2-door cab – or at least I would if I didn’t have to move to another country to see one.
Kia has a plant in the US. If there is much interest they could make them over here, or export major parts for US assembly with parts that can be sourced from the US.
Kind of reminds me of what you’d get if you crossed a Hummer with an Edsel!
This looks promising. My only question. GDI? Will this engine get past 80K without issues? Can the street punks down the street steal it with their phone?
Given Fords track record being recall kings on everything they make. I would think the Kia would have a better resale and warrantee. 10 year 100K what’s not to like?