Kia studies Toyota Prado fighter

A Toyota Prado and Ford Everest fighting ladder-frame large off-road SUV based on the Kia Tasman ute is back under investigation after a multi-country campaign.

Kia Australia, along with the Korean auto giant’s South African and Middle Eastern divisions, has successfully gained the review.

The Tasman ute goes on sale in Australia in mid-2025, but an SUV spin-off to compete with the Prado, Everest, Toyota Fortuner and Isuzu MU-X had been placed on the backburner.

But now it’s back.

“It’s being investigated again,” confirmed Kia Australia product planning general manager Roland Rivero.

“The SUV is still being studied by the group,” he added. “There is demand obviously here, but there is an even stronger push coming from South Africa and the Middle East.

“So when you have got a major region like that really saying we want one…”

Rivero confirmed that if signed-off, a Tasman-based SUV should come in “multiple powertrain” options.

In Australia the 2.2-litre turbo-diesel that the Tasman will launch with would make sense, while in the Middle East a turbo-petrol option would probably be the preferred choice.

But as per Tasman, it is also likely there would be hybrid, plug-in hybrid and even battery-electric powertrains available.

Rivero was clear that there was little prospect of the SUV showing up around the same time as the Tasman in 2025. But he emphasised there was plenty of time for it to be added.

“There’s a nice long life for this [Tasman] product – 10 years, maybe more. With that 10 years you have multiple opportunities to evolve the product.”

Kia’s revived interest in the Tasman-based SUV would have no doubt been aided by increasingly healthy sales numbers for these dual-cab ute derivatives.

In the VFACTS large SUV category (under $70,000), the Ford Ranger-based Everest was number two overall in 2023 sales behind the Prado ladder-frame diesel 4x4 wagon. The Isuzu D-MAX-based MU-X was number three and the Mitsubishi Triton-based Pajero Sport eighth.

The current Kia entrant in the segment, the freshly-updated car-based light-duty Sorento seven-seater, was sixth.

Kia has a number of non-negotiables for the Tasman, including a 3.5-tonne braked towing capacity. That would likely translate straight to the proposed wagon, as ladder-frame SUVs are caravanning favourites in Australia.

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