2025 Kia Tasman priced in Korea

Update 04/03/2025: The Kia Tasman marketing juggernaut is really kicking into gear this week with the launch of the brand's second big budget TV advert featuring AFL, NRL, cricket, tennis and horse racing superstars.

Steve Waugh, Darren Lockyer, Buddy Franklin, Alfie Langer and Dylan Alcott all make appearances in the ad, which is the sequel to the ‘Kia’s Getting A Ute’ TV from March 2024.

But this time the ute is exposed, inside and out, shown blasting along dirt tracks and even towing a heavy horse float - spruiking its 3500kg towing capability. The ute will be powered by a 2.2-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel initially, pumping out 154kW/440Nm and driving all four wheels through a conventional eight-speed automatic transmission.

Original article: The 2025 Kia Tasman has been priced in its native Korean market, starting from 37.5 million won for the entry-level 4x2 and topping out at 52.4 million won for the flagship X-Pro 4x4.

Converted directly from won to Australian dollars with no allowance for shipping, market-specific equipment levels or the differing powertrains, the Korean prices translate to bookend figures of $41,100 and $57,500 plus on-road costs.

Asking prices like that would put the Tasman at the pointy end of the field in terms of the mainstream ute market – ignoring the challenger brands – and see it comfortably undercut most of the heavy hitters, but unfortunately it isn’t that simple.

carsales has it on good authority the Tasman will be priced competitively to help maximise its appeal, but shipping, homologation and development costs need to be factored in, and very rarely do Australian vehicles share identical equipment lists with the Korean versions.

Aussie Tasmans for instance will be powered by a 2.2-litre turbo-diesel engine and an Australian suspension tune while the Korean versions score a 2.5-litre turbo-petrol set-up and more generic chassis settings.

All these factors will add at least several thousand dollars to the asking price of each vehicle irrespective of the trim level.

We know Kia has benchmarked and publicly declared war on the Ford Ranger, so it would make sense for the Tasman to undercut its target by a semi-meaningful amount, especially in the high-end sectors.

Odds are the Tasman will sit somewhere in the middle of the mainstream players for pricing when compared like-for-like against each variants’ direct competitors, though we understand the Kia should top most rivals for standard inclusions (value factor) at each rung.

With this in mind then, we expect the flagship Tasman X-Pro to flirt with the $70,000 mark before on-road costs – making it comparable to but probably marginally cheaper than the Ford Ranger Tremor while undercutting the equivalent Toyota Hilux Rogue.

That would spare the Mitsubishi Triton GSR, though if our sources’ indications are correct, the Triton’s price advantage will be offset by the Kia’s higher level of standard equipment and/or capability.

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