Not one but two electric Hyundai utes firming for Australia

Kia Australia might be going gung-ho with its first direct rival for the top-selling Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux – the all-new 2025 Kia Tasman turbo-diesel ute, which will spawn an EV version by 2026 – but its sister brand Hyundai will apparently take a left-field approach to the booming pick-up market with a pair of unrelated all-electric pick-ups.

That’s the impression given by a pair of new trademark applications filed last week with IP Australia by Hyundai Motor Company, which is seeking to secure both the ‘IONIQ T7’ and ‘IONIQ T10’ nameplates – which carsales understands will be applied to two different new battery-electric pick-up trucks.

IONIQ has long been the name bestowed upon the Korean brand’s purpose-built EVs – and was originally intended to become a sort of EV sub-brand similar to Hyundai N Performance – to denotes their electrified nature, while the ‘T’ is thought to stand for ‘truck’.

The numbers, meantime, will represent their size and position within the Hyundai range, with the IONIQ T7 likely to emerge as an SUV-based compact dual-cab ‘lifestyle’ offering – in the same vein as the Santa Cruz but almost certainly leveraging IONIQ 7 hardware – whereas the IONIQ T10 will be bigger and more utilitarian.

There’s no official information about either Hyundai pick-up, but odds are the T10 is being developed in tandem with the battery-electric version of the ladder frame-based Kia Tasman and should therefore become an all-electric rival for the Ranger, HiLux and Isuzu D-MAX within the next couple of years, given the Tasman EV is slated for local release in 2026.

Anyone having a hard time picturing a two-pronged ute line-up including a compact offering need only look at North America, where Ford sells not only the car-based Maverick and Australian-developed Ranger but also the market-leading F-Series.

The Maverick is pitched as a lifestyle vehicle aimed at SUV buyers who require a bit more versatility from their soft-roader, while Ford’s bigger pick-ups including the Ranger and F-150 are dedicated workhorses.

Hyundai is no stranger to the compact ute market, having launched the Tucson-based Santa Cruz dual-cab back in 2021, but that ute has largely been reserved for the US and Canada despite Hyundai Australia’s on-off-on efforts to secure right-hand drive production.

Hyundai Australia hasn’t commented on the recently published trademark filings, but it has spoken previously about having its hand up for all future EV products regardless of body type or positioning.

“Just be patient right? Let’s be patient and see how it resolves itself,” Hyundai Australia COO John Kett told media last year when asked when we’ll see a ute from the brand locally, and whether it would be related to the Tasman.

“Maybe over the next 12 months we’ll be able to say definitely one way or the other.”

Given that was six months ago and Kia is expected to formally announce its Tasman ute project in March, the likelihood of Hyundai confirming its pick-up plans in the following months seems reasonable.

However, Hyundai’s inaugural pair of utes could be some way off from showrooms, given the T-series trademark applications were only filed under Class 12 (automobiles; electric cars; parts and accessories for automobiles) as opposed to any of the other marketing or promotional classes, which means there’s still plenty of groundwork to cover.

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