Kia’s midsize pickup hasn’t had the smoothest start in Australia, and the company is openly acknowledging the struggle.
The Tasman faces fierce competition from established players like the Ford Ranger and Toyota Hilux, but design choices may be playing a bigger role in its sluggish performance than initially expected.
Confusion erupted recently when Kia posted AI-generated images to an official South Korean website showing the Tasman with updated styling.
The smeary, painterly renders lacked precision with garbled tire labels and blurry backgrounds, but their appearance on an official channel fueled speculation about an emergency facelift.
Roland Rivero, Kia’s chief of product planning for the region, squashed the rumours flat. A facelift would fall within normal product lifecycle milestones, he confirmed, with absolutely no fast-tracking planned.
Customers who purchased a Tasman speak very highly of their trucks. Kia just needs more of them.
The confusion prompted independent digital artist Theophilus Chin to reimagine the truck with styling cues from the latest Telluride SUV.
He revived the Mohave nameplate, originally used on the KCV4 Mojave pickup concept in 2004 and later on a ladder-frame SUV sold in North America as the Borrego.
The renderings present a Telluride transformed into a pickup, swapping unibody construction for rugged ladder-frame architecture underneath.
Vertical LED headlights and a prominent front bumper complement the dual-cab layout. Smoother, restrained side panels lend a refined presence.
At the rear, distinctive Telluride LED taillights pair with a purpose-built off-road bumper and functional tailgate featuring KIA block lettering.
Curiously, Chin used VW Amarok proportions as the base rather than the actual Tasman dimensions.
Kia’s original intent was to stand out with a design unlike anything else on the market.
The designers succeeded, but details like boxy plastic fenders, tall front end, undersized headlights, and horn-like trim along the hood have been met with hesitation from potential buyers.
The bulging hood, copious black trim, and weird headlight treatment built into fenders make it stand out, but not necessarily in a good way.
Kia’s design ethos lately focuses on eliciting reactions, positive or negative. The Tasman accomplishes that, but once you become numb to the styling, what remains is unfortunately quite ugly.
The brand insists the Tasman has a long road ahead with several updates already planned.
These include an electrified powertrain, a more off-road-focused trim inspired by the Weekender concept, and a possible facelift further down the line.
Emergency redesigns do happen in automotive. The Chevrolet Camaro suffered a widely panned 2019 nose job that was quickly corrected just one year later in 2020.
Whether Kia will follow a similar path remains unknown, but clearly something needs to change to boost sales in Australia’s competitive pickup market.
