Kia’s local boss is standing by the Tasman ute, saying “we will continue to work exceptionally hard to make sure that it is a success in the Australian market”.
Speaking with media at the launch of the new EV4 electric sedan, CEO for Kia Australia – Damien Meredith – got on the topic of Tasman before journalists had a chance to bring it up.
“First thing I want to say about Tasman is that we’ve got great faith in Tasman as a product, and we will continue to work exceptionally hard to make sure that it is a success in the Australian market,” Mr Meredith said.
“We’re not making or looking for excuses in regards to its slow start. It’s only been on the market for seven months, it hasn’t been in market in seven years. We’ve got a lot of work to do, and we know that it’s a great product and it will work within the Australian market.
“You’re also aware that Australia asked for this product – so we do have to make it work,” Mr Meredith added.
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After launching in July 2025, the Tasman notched up 4196 registrations across 4×2 and 4×4 variants. At the current rate, the Tasman won’t even hit 10,000 sales after the first 12 months of being on sale, which is less than half of the Korean brand’s initial projections for its first dual-cab ute.
Adding more pain is the fact two of the top three vehicles sold in Australia last year were dual-cab utes – the Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux – which both eclipsed 50,000 units for the calendar year, or more than five times that of the Tasman.
Just a couple of months ago some of Kia’s local executives told CarExpert entry-level, fleet-focused variants hadn’t started as strongly as the company hoped, with a renewed focus on fleet business moving into the new year.
“We can see where we’re missing out. [We] see how our X-series [X-Line, X-Pro] cars are going, and the price points they sit at, they’re going relatively well. We see a gap in the [entry-level] S range, we’re not getting our fair share there, where the other brands seem to be playing pretty well and getting a lot of volume,” Dennis Piccoli, COO of Kia Australia said during a Q&A.
“That partially is due to the fleet content with Tasman is not where it needs to be, but that is coming together. I think you’ll see with Tasman is there will be a hockey stick [in sales performance] through 2026, without a shadow of a doubt.
“On Tasman, our goals were always quite ambitious. The reality is, that [dual-cab ute] segment has become far more fragmented,” Mr Piccoli continued.
“Whether it’s powertrains – whether it’s hybrid or diesel – the number of brands that are in [there], the brands that are in there that are so heavily reliant on their [ute] product, and just the general level of aggressiveness in market… it’s extremely competitive.
“We are working through where we want to be in 2026 in totality. We are not a one-car company, we are not a Tasman car company, nor do we want to be a Carnival car company. We want a good split of cars… so we need to find that right mix that makes good business sense for us.”
Asked directly about the company’s commitment to hitting its long-touted 20,000-unit annual target, Mr Piccoli said “we’ll see”.
In a follow-up interview, Kia Australia general manager for product Roland Rivero suggested to CarExpert that – depending on the next 12 to 18 months – the company would be more inclined to rationalise the local Tasman range rather than further expanding it, when asked about lineup adjustments to increase sales.
“For a Kia product, [the Tasman] is by far away the most complex Kia product that we’ve got in market in terms of number of variants, number of trims, and 0.9 versus 1.0-tonne payload etcetera; there are a lot of variants there that need to be managed by respective stock controllers in our dealer network,” Mr Rivero said.
The first single-cab/chassis versions of the Tasman will arrive in local dealerships in January-February 2026, forming a key plank in the Korean brand’s assault on the fleet ute market.