The North American pickup market is so lucrative that almost every big brand already has or is planning to launch an offering, now extended to Kia.
Kia only launched its first ute, the Tasman, in Australia and other “global emerging markets” last year, where it hasn’t made as big of a dent on the sales charts as first expected – due in part to its controversial exterior styling.
The Tasman was never intended to be taken to North America – not least because of its very Australian-centric name – but now Kia has confirmed it wants to launch a new pickup in the market by 2030.
Details at this stage are light, however Kia says its American pickup will include hybrid and extended-range hybrid variants, both of which will be key to winning over fuel-conscious customers.
Running on a body-on-frame platform like most of the successful mid- and full-sized pickups in the market, it’s possible Kia will lean on its parent in the Hyundai Group for access to its upcoming ladder-frame chassis.
Earlier this month, Hyundai’s Boulder SUV Concept showed off the carmaker’s first body-on-frame platform to be made for the US market.
Set to be exclusively designed and produced in North America using US steel, the body-on-frame chassis will be made for the local market, and debut underneath a mid-sized pickup, taking on popular offerings such as the Toyota Tacoma, Chevrolet Colorado and Ford Ranger.
Like Kia, Hyundai has announced plans to produce a mid-sized pickup for North America by 2030, in addition to making two pickups in a partnership with General Motors, the latter pair of which will be for the Central and South American markets.
As reported by Automotive News, Kia is aiming for the new pickup to contribute about 90,000 sales annually in North America by 2034, at which point the majority of its rivals would have likely followed suit with electrification.
It’s not likely that we’ll see the next Kia pickup in Australia though, as the Tasman is doing its duty in our competitive ute market, even if it hasn’t been the success story Kia had hoped for.
Kia had said the Tasman could achieve 20,000 annual sales in Australia, which would require more than 1660 average monthly deliveries. In 2025, its monthly average was about 600 deliveries, while across the first three months of 2026, Kia delivered a total of just 1338 Tasmans.
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