It seems you can’t sell a ute in Australia without offering an even more offroad-ready version worked over by a local engineering business. Premcar developed the Nissan Navara SL and Pro-4X Warrior , while Walkinshaw has been even more prolific in this space, launching the WAU Ford Ranger , Isuzu D-Max Blade and the defunct Mitsubishi Triton Xtreme and various Volkswagen Amarok W-Series models. With the Kia Tasman entering the crowded ute market, naturally we had to ask: will Walkinshaw or Premcar be tasked with fettling the new Korean ute?` “I think again we’ve got a long, long model life cycle or product life cycle to look forward to, so we won’t close that door,” Roland Rivero, Kia Australia product planning general manager, told CarExpert.
“There has been interest, the Premcars of this world have knocked on the door and said let’s look at a partnership. “For now, [it’s a matter of] let’s get the fundamentals right first and foremost, get the core volume areas of Tasman understood..
. we’ve kept it simple for the entry for the launch phase for now.” Kia says the Tasman has the most complex model range of any vehicle it has introduced in Australia.
It’s focusing on the heart of the ute market with single-cab/chassis and dual-cab/chassis and dual-cab pickup derivatives, all powered by a four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine. It has indicated the Tasman will have the typically long lifecycle of a ute – likely around 10 years – which leaves plenty of t.