Kia has yet to confirm whether its all-new Tasman ute will spawn an SUV, but its local division has put its hand up should one eventuate.
Almost every one of the Tasman’s rivals in Australia has an SUV counterpart – see the Ford Ranger and Everest; Toyota HiLux and Fortuner; Isuzu D-Max and MU-X; and Mitsubishi Triton and Pajero Sport.
“I think we’ve been pretty vocal. We’ve said we’d love to see one. Just looking at the success of Everest, for example, it’d be great,” said Kia Australia product planning general manager Roland Rivero told Australian media.
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Tasman
“We’ve got our hand up for one if it was decided globally to develop and they asked for Australia’s opinion, we would love to bring one.
“But there’s a lot more than just Australia influencing these decisions, so we’d need the collective regions to also want it.”
The Tasman has been developed for not only Australia, but also Korea, parts of Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and South America.
It rides a new ladder-frame platform, though in Australia it’ll use a version of the Carnival and Sorento’s existing 2.2-litre turbo-diesel four-cylinder engine.
Mohave
Kia has had a Toyota LandCruiser Prado rival since 2008, but the Mohave has never been made available in Australia as it has only ever been built in left-hand drive.
“…The current Mohave… unfortunately they didn’t want to develop in right-hand drive,” said Mr Rivero.
Examples of the body-on-frame Mohave were used as ‘mules’ during the testing process for the Tasman.
The Mohave – currently available only with a turbo-diesel V6, but previously with petrol V6 and V8 engines – is reportedly being discontinued, which will leave a gap atop Kia’s Korean-market lineup.
Telluride
While Kia has the large, US-built Telluride crossover to slot in above its Sorento in North America, this isn’t exported to Korea. It, like the Mohave, is also built exclusively in left-hand drive.
Should the Tasman’s platform not be used for an SUV, the Tasman would be among a small contingent of ute models with no SUV counterpart. This includes the Volkswagen Amarok, though it shares its platform with the Ford Everest.
Though it’s not sold here, the Nissan Navara spawned an SUV version called the Terra, while the GWM Cannon Ute shares its platform with various Tank SUVs.
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