Kia Australia has bluntly denied rumours that the Korean brand is fast-tracking a facelift for its polarising Tasman ute, but says it’s looking at all opportunities to boost the model’s low sales figures.
“There’s no fast-track for a facelift for Tasman,” Kia Australia product planning manager Raymond Pok told CarExpert.
“Our focus is continuing the success of [Tasman] in this current form. Normal timelines and lifecycle for Tasman will be where it sits in terms of a facelift.”
Those comments come after various rumours and reports suggesting Kia was working to revise the Tasman’s polarising look in response to ongoing criticism since it was launched. These include the sighting of a camouflaged ute in early 2025 and seemingly AI-generated images of the ute appearing later last year.
Mr Pok’s confirmation doesn’t mean there won’t be a facelift, however. It’s likely Kia will roll out at least some tweaks for the Tasman as part of a mid-life update in the next couple of years, though there’s no concrete information on that at yet.
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In any case, it’s no secret the Tasman hasn’t lived up to Kia’s own sales forecasts, let alone matched Australia’s top-selling utes. With 1167 sales so far this year, it’s well behind the Ford Ranger 4×4 (11,592) and Toyota HiLux 4×4 (8951), and even trails the Mitsubishi Triton 4×4 (4856) and Mazda BT-50 4×4 (2358).
Kia Australia CEO Damien Meredith stated to CarExpert that the brand’s first ute is underperforming in the market, with current sales trending well below the brand’s initial forecast of 20,000 annual sales.
“No, it hasn’t performed as expected. We certainly wanted more volume out of Tasman – that hasn’t occurred,” he said.
Although it’s yet to notch up a year on sale following its mid-2025 release, the Tasman is tracking well below both Kia’s own expectations and the popularity of its rivals, including the top-selling Ranger 4×4 which routinely finds more than 50,000 new homes annually.
“The reality is it hasn’t been a year – it’s been nine months since launch. We’ve got a lot of work to do to get it to a level that’s acceptable.”
When asked what could be done to improve the Tasman’s sales performance, Mr Meredith said Kia will pursue all possible avenues, but stopped short of naming specific tactics.
“We’ve got to look at every lever you can pull in terms of value add, pricing, re-positioning [and so on],” he said. “We haven’t stopped trying. We won’t stop trying until we get the right mix of what needs to be done to make it more successful.”
That’s consistent with Mr Meredith’s previous comments on the Tasman, since he has long said the Korean automaker is committed to making its first ute work in the Australian market.
Kia has also said it would focus on fleet business in 2026 with its entry-level, fleet-focused variants, though the results are not yet clear.
It now offers several budget-oriented 4×2 single-cab variants priced from $38,010 before on-road costs. That’s only about $900 more than the cheapest two-door Ranger 4×2, but thousands more than the equivalent HiLux and Triton.
It’s also worth mentioning that Tasman dual-cab 4×4 pickup sales are also being outperformed by several models from auto brands that have been in Australia for much less time than Kia, namely Chinese options like the BYD Shark 6 and GWM Cannon.
“We understand the competitive nature of that segment, and we also understand how strong the two major players are, and also the entrants that have come in that have gained volume and market share very, very quickly,” Mr Meredith told CarExpert.
“We’ve got to look at ways to be involved in that and grow our size.”
MORE: Kia stands by slow-selling Tasman ute – “We’ve got to make it work”