Kia to ‘play on’ in face of Tasman ute fuel efficiency penalties

Kia Australia is confident it can resist price rises and continue to offer a broad range of combustion-engined vehicles – including the incoming 2025 Kia Tasman ute – under the federal government’s looming New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES).

Still to be passed through parliament, NVES is expected to take effect from January 2025 and, among a broad range of measures, will impose tough penalties on high-emitting diesel-powered utes – the segment that includes Australia’s top-selling vehicles, the Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux, and which Kia will enter with Tasman from mid-2025.

In an interview with carsales, Kia Australia chief executive Damien Meredith welcomed the proposed legislation and the direction it would take the industry, allowing the Korean brand to offset penalties imposed on ICE vehicles with credits gained from its expanding range of EVs – including the soon-to-launch all-new 2024 Kia EV5 mid-size SUV.

“We’ve always taken a pragmatic view of the legislation but the main point is ‘play-on’ from our point of view,” he said.

“There are a few things that work in favour of the industry in terms of concessions, too.”

Speaking specifically on the Tasman ute, which is expected to be powered solely by Kia’s long-standing 2.2-litre turbo-diesel four-cylinder, Meredith said the company’s plans were unaffected by the proposed NVES legislation.

“It wouldn’t have changed a thing with Tasman, because we’re confident we can build up our credits in terms of what we sell from an EV point of view, and we’re confident that we’ll still be selling Picanto and the Cerato replacement ([K4],” he said.

Furthermore, Meredith is confident Kia can continue to offer Australians affordable ICE passenger cars – a segment that’s also to be hit hard by the government’s target to reduce emissions by more than 60 per cent by 2030.

“Our view is that we don’t want to penalise customers any more than we want to give money to the government. And nor do we want to buy credits from other manufacturers,” Meredith said of any potential price increases.

“If we can fulfil those three aspects then we will be fine. And that’s what we’re aiming to do.

“We want that spread of product because that’s what the public wants and we want to meet the market. We'll work with the legislation – and we’re fine with that – but people still want ICE cars, people still want people-movers, people still want hatchbacks, and that’s the way we approach things.

“We’ll source every nook and cranny in the world to look at what’s available to bring it to Australia. So from that point of view, yes, the legislation has promoted more choice in the Australian market.

“I think you’ve got to have a ‘get on with it’ attitude. We’re fortunate that we’ve got a great range of product in terms of price point ICE, quality ICE, product that dominates segments like Carnival.

“We’re really fortunate, our responsibility now is to build up our EV and plug-in hybrid sales, and we’ll do that because of the product we’ve got and the product that’s coming.”

Join the conversation at our Facebook page
Or email us at editor@carsales.com.au