A teaser image of the Kia’s pick-up truck Tasman is expected to be released soon, according to a recent interview of Kia’s Global Design Center, Karim Habib, with Australian car magazine CarSales.
“The teaser image of the pickup model will be released soon. You will be able to confirm it soon.” he said. “As designers, our role is to serve the brand and the customer,” he added. “We design products so that people can use them within the framework of the brand and automatically create a sense of family.”
Kia’s next-generation pickup truck, codenamed as “TK”, will be developed using a body-on-frame method, and the likely name for the car is Tasman. Previously, Kia applied for a trademark for the name Tasman in some countries, including Korea and Australia.
The test car spy shots captured so far were based on the Mojave body, so it still difficult to predict its final design. It is reported that the pickup model will be available with a double-cab diesel engine model at the beginning.
The diesel engine is already kwnon, the same 3.0-liter V6 diesel engine used in the Mohave which has a maximum output of 257 horsepower and a maximum torque of 57kg.m. In addition, the 3.3-liter V6 gasoline twin turbo engine used in the Stinger is expected to be installed to compete with high-performance pickup trucks such as the Ford Ranger.
Unlike Hyundai Motor Company’s unibody pickup truck Santa Cruz, the Kia Tasman uses a body-on-frame system and is expected to be equipped with a four-wheel drive system, a payload of up to 1,000 kg, and a towing capacity of 3,500 kg for rough roads. In addition, a large number of functions for off-road and rough road driving, such as driver assistance system, four-wheel drive system, differential gear lock, and terrain mode, will be available.
Kia benchmarked the Tasman against the Ford Ranger and Toyota Hilux and it is known that Kia Australia’s engineering team is deeply involved in the development process.
