One of Kia’s top-ranking global executives appears to have shut down the idea of a Ford Everest-rivalling off-road SUV based on the Tasman ute, telling CarExpert “we are trying to focus on… what we can do better”.
Speaking with Australian media in South Korea, senior vice president at Kia Global, Spencer Cho, said a Tasman-based ladder-frame SUV “could be an option” for the brand but its current lineup is “big enough”.
“That might be another option, but at this point we are trying to focus on what we can, and what we can do better,” Mr Cho said, “Of course, we can give much more choices to customers, [but] sometimes it does not always work.”
“At this time as you know, we have the ICE lineups, and we also have close to a full EV lineup as well. So our model line is big enough, so instead of adding another model line, we [are trying] to focus on the product improvements and also improve our competitiveness with what we have in our hands right now.”
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Kia Australia has gone on record in the past saying it would love a rival to the top-selling Ford Everest and Toyota Prado, to complement the Tasman which battles the Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux.
The Korean brand isn’t a stranger to ladder-frame off-road SUVs, having produced the Mohave from 2008-2024, however the large SUV – which offered V6 and V8 engines throughout its history – was only produced in left-hand drive, and therefore not available to Australia.
It’s a shame, because in its most recent iteration, the Mohave offered a 3.0-litre turbo-diesel V6 with an eight-speed automatic transmission and four-wheel drive which would have really lined up with the Everest.
Kia’s local division has also unsuccessfully campaigned to bring the unibody Telluride to Australia, but it’s also built exclusively in left-hand drive unlike the related Hyundai Palisade. The latest 2027 Telluride was revealed by Kia America last November, boasting the Palisade’s turbocharged hybrid powertrain and Range Rover-inspired looks.
The new Telluride even offers a more rugged X-Pro variant with a suspension lift to 9.1 inches (231mm), an electronic limited-slip differential (e-LSD), front and rear recovery points, and all-terrain tyres.
Body-on-frame SUVs continue to lead the large SUV segment on the VFACTS sales charts so far this year, with the Ford Everest (7081) and Toyota LandCruiser Prado (6385) outselling more car-like unibody SUVs like the Kia Sorento (1814) and Hyundai Santa Fe (1986).
Kia also remains without an SUV nameplate larger than the Sorento, unlike sister brand Hyundai, which offers the aforementioned Palisade SUV above the Sorento-sized Santa Fe.
Mr Cho’s comments come after he labelled the Tasman ute’s sales performance “disappointing” both in Australia and other launch markets, explaining that the Korean brand is “not satisfied yet” and is already looking into short- and medium-term “countermeasures” around the ute’s design, equipment and powertrain.
“Currently we are working on every area in which we can improve the performance of the Tasman, especially in the Australian market,” Mr Cho said.
“We will provide counter-measures for the coming years, and we will also have other powertrain choices if we can, and also design changes or improvement or any other offerings for new features and content and technologies.”
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