Asked if Kia is happy with the Tasman’s slim 2.4 percent share of Australia’s huge 4×4 ute market, CEO Damien Meredith bluntly replied “no”.
The company said publicly it was chasing 20,000 annual sales from the Tasman ute yet it’s on track for just 5000 deliveries if year-to-date sales continue at their current pace. And the first fix is more short-term than the pick-up’s divisive looks.
“We’ve got lots of levers we can pull and we’ve just got to pull the right levers that make the product more acceptable. And that’s what we’re doing right now at this very point in time,” explained Meredith.
Huge disruption in the segment has a part to play, too. With sharp driveaway pricing and new plug-in hybrid technology, bullish BYD has shown that new faces can be accepted with open arms as its Shark 6 has notched up three times the Tasman’s deliveries this year.
For reference, the market-leading Ford Ranger has managed nearly 16,000 sales to the end of April, while second place Toyota Hilux secured just under 12,500 deliveries.
Boosting Tasman’s fortunes
The crucial move for Kia is — in Meredith’s own words — making Tasman a “more acceptable” ute for Australians.
When pressed on the definition of this, Meredith mentioned price and value, before addressing the Tasman’s styling.
“I think it’s everything related. I think it’s pricing, I think it’s value, I think it’s looks; all of those things.
“You can’t keep your head in the sand…we have to improve the value of the car,” said Meredith, but cautioned an electrified version isn’t just around the corner: “Let’s fix what we’ve got first before we start looking at other drivetrains.”
General manager of marketing Dean Norbiato added that many Tasman buyers are already Kia owners, “40 percent of people who are buying it are existing Kia customers, so they’re aware of the Kia quality, the Kia build quality offer.
“We need to broaden the appeal and get more people, more bums in seats to see and feel the quality [of the Tasman],” he said.
Despite the Tasman’s slow sales it has proven a critical success for the brand, taking a win in a four-way Chasing Cars comparison test, and gaining high scores in road tests.
Under the Tasman’s bonnet is a 2.2-litre turbo-diesel four-cylinder outputting 154kW and 440Nm to an eight-speed automatic. Like a Mitsubishi Triton, Tasman is equipped with full-time 4WD that can be used on sealed surfaces.
It is expected Kia will spin-off the Tasman’s ladder-frame chassis into a wagon-bodied SUV, as Ford and Isuzu do with the Everest and MU-X.
Electrification has been mooted for the Tasman, with sister-company Hyundai expected to release a battery-electric ute in the future. Kia’s Tasman is more likely to pick-up hybrid and PHEV options in the future, though nothing has been confirmed.
