How Kia is futureproofing the 2025 Tasman ute against the Ford Ranger and coming all-new Mitsubishi Triton, Nissan Navara and Toyota HiLux rivals

Kia has revealed that the upcoming pick-up truck (thought to be called Tasman but as yet unconfirmed by the brand) is ‘futureproofed’ to better take on key medium ute rivals such as the Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux.

With the Australian team based in Sydney intimately involved in the TK-series' gestation in Korea over the past five years, a degree of flexibility to make last-minute changes and updates leading up to its late-2025/early 2026 launch have been implemented, including meeting future safety and carbon-emissions targets.

According to Kia Australia (KAU) head of product planning, Roland Rivero, the mindset here is to ensure that the mid-sized ute is as class-leading as possible against the current benchmark (Ranger), as well as the still-unknown competition that are just around the corner.

These include the next-generation Mitsubishi Triton that's imminent, the related Nissan Navara arriving not too long afterwards, as well as the completely redesigned HiLux.

"Even though you've already got Ford Ranger and (Ford engineered and designed in Melbourne) VW Amarok, they were rated under 2022 ANCAP protocols," he told the Australian media in Sydney last month.

"We're well aware of what's to come, and we're also well aware of how long the common life of a light-commercial vehicle is. It has to have longevity and has to be suited to our market. All those (aspects) are being looked at."

Like the Ranger, the ute will be built off-shore (in the Kia's case, Korea), but KAU is where key decisions about what it will look like, behave like and feature specification-wise are made, because Australia is set to be the largest market for it in the world.

"There's a substantial amount of input (from KAU already)," Rivero revealed.

"A lot of work has already been done, to as much as possible influence the development for our market.

"There's been lots of engineers from (Kia's Korean engineering hub in) Namyang that have made the trip (to Australia), getting acquainted with our market, with our dealers, with a few media people as well. Basically, they're bolstering their understanding of what our market requires and needs by way of a ute.

"When you're involved this far out, Australia's role is being seen as a very important one relative to a lot of other markets."

Rivero also believes there will still be enough time for changes to be made to the pick-up truck before production commences in (likely in 2025), even after the aforementioned coming wave of next-gen mid-sized utes are in the brand’s hands in Namyang and Sydney for assessment – as is usual industry practice as part of the benchmarking process.

"The flexibility in how we develop our ordering specs can be tweaked six months before production," he revealed.

To that end, and as we reported last month, the diesel and possible petrol-powered models will be likely joined by an electric vehicle (EV) version, as outlined last year at Kia's global investor's meeting in Seoul under its two-pronged EV truck strategy leading up to 2027.

KAU collaborator, Graeme Gambold of Gambold Testing Services, added that his team has been involved from the beginning of Kia’s ute project, to make sure the finished product is right for Australian consumer needs as well as local conditions.

"We've done work with vehicles up there (at Namyang)," he revealed.

"It's not different to any other new research and development projects… while it's evolving, it's also flexible. The concrete doesn't set until you go to production… and that's still a fair way off.

"So, even though there's a huge amount of work been done on it – I was up in the research centre last week and there's a big focus on the engineers to get this right.

"It will evolve and if it needs changes to certain technologies or certain directions it will get them.

"It's a very big focus on making sure that it is very suitable for this market. The chief engineer from there down is listening to Roland and listening to Roland's group to be make sure it is right."