KIA Tasman Caught Still in Test Mule Form

Today we want to share with you new spy photos of KIA Tasman UTE vehicle caught testing in South Korea still in Test mule form. What is KIA testing in this shape? Well, mainly the drivetrain and platform. If you take a look closely to the prototype you will see that front and front door are transplanted from Kia’s Mohave while the rest of the vehicle is added. 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 (this is the first, the so-called Tasman), 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 Borrego/Mohave (depending on the market) that passed almost unnoticed. Now the Tasman, codenamed as TK1, will try for better luck. 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. Pictures: Newcarscoops