Kia’s Ford Everest fighter: Kia Tasman SUV development accelerates with design studies in progress

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A senior Kia executive has confirmed that the South Korean brand is working on new products that will share the body-on-frame platform of the Tasman ute. The most likely of those products is an SUV version of the Tasman.

“The beauty is that the [Tasman] platform is going to get a lot of mileage,” Kia Australia general manager of product planning Roland Rivero told Chasing Cars.

“It is going to make its way into other products as well. When you already have a platform that you have invested in, the ability to build upon it is a lot easier than starting from scratch.

“The ability to turn around a [Tasman] SUV is a lot quicker.”

It is common for a ute model to be complemented by a rugged 4WD sibling, with the SUV model typically providing a heavy-duty family vehicle or fleet wagon option in Australia.

For rival brand Ford, pairing the Ranger ute (56,555 sales in 2025) with the Everest SUV (26,161 sales in 2025) has been a commercial success that Kia would like to replicate.

“The platform is there. Much like Ranger to Everest, it is not a humungous job to adopt and adjust the [Tasman] body,” said Rivero.

Kia engineers working on the Tasman program are understood to have also worked on a 4WD wagon sibling for some years, and the concept is now advancing towards production.

When we asked Rivero if he had seen the design of the Tasman SUV, he was coy.

“I might have. [Tasman SUV] is being contemplated. A lot of stuff gets contemplated, just like the Tasman Weekender [concept].”

The arrival of a hypothetical Tasman SUV would likely come after the ute adopts a level of electrification in compliance with Australia’s emissions regulations.

Tasman ute models are expected to pick up a 48-volt mild hybrid system for the four-cylinder diesel engine some time in 2027.

But a large-capacity engine such as a V6 is not expected with Kia executives having repeatedly poured cold water on the idea of a V6 on emissions grounds.

So far, Tasman sales have fallen short of expectations set by Kia itself. In its first half-year on sale, 4196 units of the controversially styled pick-up have been delivered.

A target of 20,000 annual sales of the Tasman was given to media at the launch of the model in August 2025.