SPY PICS: First Kia ute prototype spotted in Korea

The first prototype of the long awaited, hotly anticipated and extensively discussed Kia pick-up has been spotted testing in its native Korea, wearing the brand’s redesigned logo – displayed clearly on the front for the world to see.

Four images surfaced online via the kia_club_official Instagram account showing a disguised prototype making headway through traffic, while another shot showing the (also heavily camouflaged) rear quarter of what appears to be the same dual-cab 4x4 test vehicle was posted to the clien.net forum on November 2.

With so much camouflage wrapped around the body and tub it’s hard to ascertain much about the design of the inaugural Kia ute, but it’s easy to see this is a fair bit more than a rebadged Hyundai Sana Cruz.

Indeed, rather than being a car-based twin-cab like the Santa Cruz, this is a dedicated ladder-frame pick-up roughly the size of the new Ford Ranger – exactly what Kia (and Hyundai) Australia have always wanted.

Generous ground clearance, a promising approach angle and a locking rear differential are all clearly visible, and it’s clear the Kia development team wasn’t too concerned about the test mule being spotted given the Kia logo on the grille is one of the few parts of the pre-production ute not shrouded in camo.

With no obvious aerodynamic trickery apparent on the spied vehicle, it would be safe to assume this particular example features a segment appropriate turbo-diesel powertrain.

What’s more, recent social media chatter has started to point to the inclusion of six-cylinder turbo-diesel power, which would put the as-yet-unnamed commercial in very good stead against the new Ford Ranger and inbound Volkswagen Amarok.

Just such an engine is already available within the Hyundai Motor Group in the form of Genesis’ 3.0-litre turbo-diesel inline-six, which has previously been floated for commercial applications and currently churns out 204kW/588Nm under the bonnet of the Genesis GV80 large SUV.

That power output would jettison the Kia ute straight to the top of the local diesel ute hierarchy, while the torque peak could be massaged to match or better the 600Nm Ranger and Amarok V6s.

An eight-speed automatic is the most likely transmission choice.

While the new Kia logo is proudly mounted on the grille of the spied development vehicle, the vaguely covered lights look to have been pinched off the Kia Mohave large SUV, which just so happens to be underpinned by a traditional ladder-frame chassis.

Some have speculated this to be a borrowed front fascia and not indicative of the ute’s final design given Kia’s current quest to offer all of its models with squintier lighting signatures as they’re launched and or updated.

Somehow, we don’t think this sighting was an accident or lucky coincidence, which leads us to believe there’ll be a few more sightings over the coming months as development ramps up and Kia really starts to steam up the hype train.

In the meantime, we’ll keep our ear to the ground and an eye out for any significant updates or new developments.

Previous reports have nominated mid-decade launches for both the Kia pick-up and its Hyundai cousin but, given it has reached public-road evaluation stage, the first Kia ute is likely to be officially revealed much sooner than that – and could make its world debut in 2023 ahead of an Australian release in 2024.

There’s been no sighting yet of the equivalent Hyundai ute, and it’s possible Hyundai Australia could still offer the Tucson-based Santa Cruz dual-cab here instead of – or as well as – the Korean auto giant’s first direct rival for the top-selling Toyota HiLux.

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