Last year, Kia presented its first pickup truck in Busan, South Korea. There was early speculation that the Tasman would make it to North America, but that has not happened, and it won’t. The model is currently sold in Europe, Australia and some other markets.
However, no Tasman is different from no pickup of ANY kind for North America. Kia CEO Ho Sung Song told Automotive News at last week’s Seoul Auto Show that the company is seriously studying the possibility of attacking the lucrative but hard-fought pickup segment in our region.
“We will have more details next week on the pickup truck for the United States. But in general, we are studying the issue,” he said.
Ho Sung Song pointed out again that Kia won’t simply take the Tasman and sell it in the American market. That model was not developed with the U.S. and Canada in mind, and it would need to be reworked to be adapted to our roads and also to the regulations in force on this side of the Atlantic.
Instead, Kia wants any future North American pickup to be designed to compete with seasoned models like the Chevrolet Colorado, Toyota Tacoma and Ford Ranger.
We know that the company has agreements with General Motors for the development of joint products. That could be one avenue Kia is looking at.
Ho Sung Song plans to make an official announcement during Kia's investor day this Wednesday, April 9th.