- Kia's first truck is ready to fight the Ford Ranger and Toyota Hilux.
- Depending on the market, it's powered by gasoline and diesel engines.
- Single- and double-cab versions will be offered, along with a chassis cab.
After what seemed like an endless string of teasers, the Tasman is finally here. By “here,” we don’t actually mean the United States since it won't be sold in North America. The Ford Ranger competitor will be offered at home in South Korea as well as in Australia, the Middle East, and Africa. As one would expect from a midsize pickup, the workhorse comes in multiple flavors.
Kia will sell the Tasman in single- and double-cab body styles, plus a stripped-down chassis cab that business owners can customize. As strongly hinted in the preview images, the truck looks quirky from just about every angle. Well, the rear isn’t so unusual, although there’s a huge logo (some people still mistake it for “KN”) stamped into the tailgate. The oddest angle is the profile with mustache-like body cladding. There will be an option for a more conventional wheel arch with the black part surrounding the entire wheel arch rather than just the top.
The Tasman also stands out with its unconventional front fascia by having vertical headlights pushed to the sides. There’s another oversized Kia logo and a bulging hood to make the truck look more muscular. Overall, it’s not the Telluride pickup some had assumed it would be, and that holds true for what’s underneath the polarizing body. This is a body-on-frame truck rather than using a unibody construction like the Maverick or Ridgeline.
Stepping inside, it’s not as rugged as the exterior suggests. The Tasman has a more car-like interior with a triple-screen layout. There’s a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster joined by a 5-inch display in the middle and a 12.3-inch touchscreen for the infotainment system. Despite the generous screen real estate, Kia hasn’t abandoned traditional switchgear. There are still a handful of buttons and switches to access the most often-used functions.
You can tell it’s a proper truck from the locking differential button and the switch for low-range mode. Oddly enough, the center console contains a plaque with the pickup’s dimensions: 212 inches long, 75 inches wide, and 75 inches tall. The wheelbase isn’t listed there but we know the Tasman measures 128.7 inches between the axles.
Depending on the market, the new truck will be available with six-speed manual and eight-speed automatic transmissions along with two- and four-wheel-drive configurations. In Korea, the Tasman gets a 2.5-liter gasoline engine producing 277 horsepower and 311 pound-feet of torque. Not that acceleration matters a lot in this segment but it’ll hit 62 mph in eight and a half seconds. Flat out, it can do 115 mph.
In Australia, the Tasman has a 2.2-liter turbodiesel engine rated at 207 hp and 325 lb-ft. It has the same top speed but takes 10.4 seconds to reach 62 mph. In the Middle East and Africa, customers can choose from these two gasoline and diesel engines. Both come with 21.1-gallon fuel tanks and a maximum towing capacity of 7,716 pounds. The payload capacity varies from 2,242 to 2,635 pounds while the cargo bed’s volume is 41.4 cubic feet.
Kia has engineered the Tasman with a double-wishbone front suspension and a rigid rear axle with leaf springs. It claims the truck can ford water up to 31.5 inches deep at speeds of 4.3 mph, and as a safety measure, there are waterproof connectors for certain interior parts. All-terrain tires with 17- and 18-inch wheels are available, as are multiple drive modes to tackle a variety of surfaces: Desert, Mud, Snow, and Rock.
Kia claims class-leading headroom, shoulder room, and second-row legroom, plus the ability to recline the rear seats between 22 to 30 degrees. Lift the rear seats and there are two hidden storage bins for those valuables you don’t want to store in the bed. Elsewhere, the Tasman has dual wireless charging pads, a Harman Kardon sound system, a folding console table, and grab handles in the A-pillars.
From day one, Kia will offer 13 accessories, including beadlock-style wheels and side steps. In the back, the illuminated bed can be configured with a canopy featuring butterfly doors, a sliding tonneau cover, or a roll bar. A roof rack compatible with a rooftop tent is also available.
2025 Kia Tasman
Korea will be the first market to get the Tasman in the first half of 2025 before Kia’s inaugural pickup arrives in Australia, Africa, and the Middle East. The company reckons Saudi Arabia will be one of the main markets for the truck, hence why the world premiere is taking place at the Jeddah International Motor Show.
The Tasman isn’t the only pickup Kia has been working on since an electric truck is coming by 2027. It might’ve been spied testing earlier this year in the United States. A fully electric Tasman is also likely planned for markets outside the US. If Kia has any intentions to sell a truck here, it would have to build it at its Georgia plant to avoid the 25% Chicken Tax.
Source: Kia
