We recently spied a mysterious KIA Mohave high riding test vehicle caught on top of a tow truck in South Korea and that could be KIA Tasman pickup test mule. Now we want to share with you a rendering of how the Tasman (known internally as TK1) could look thanks to the rendering made by NYMammoth. The Tasman should debut before the end of 2024.
What we know so far?
Kia’s president Mr. Ho-sung Song announced plans to produce specialized electric vehicles in four major markets to expand electric vehicle volume. Apart from the EV9, that will be built ad Hwaseong plant, a mid-size electric vehicle models will be introduced in China from next year while an entry and mid-size electric vehicle models will be produced in India from 2025.
And then, they also announced two pickups, that will use an electric vehicle-only platform and an internal combustion engine-based architecture, respectively. It is expected that the former will be developed for the North American market and the latter will be developed for the emerging market and use a market-tailored strategy.
This is not the first time we heard about Kia could launch a pickup, many years ago Kia released (in 2004) the KCV-4 or Mojave pickup concept that never reached production. Instead, Kia launched a ladder-frame chassis based SUV, the KIA Mohave (depending on the market) that passed almost unnoticed.
More recently, some rumors said that Kia planned to launch UTE vehicles in Australia but these plans were also discarded. Despite we are still far from seeing something real that confirms this project, we will keep an eye on it to tell you more as soon as we have any new info.
