The last decade or so has been a gamechanger for Kia. The automaker has taken significant steps to move away from its previous reputation in America for producing fairly humble vehicles to a brand that more car shoppers seriously consider. The Kia Telluride, Soul, and Niro have all done respectably well in our reviews and that isn’t even considering its upcoming wave of EVs. The sporty Kia EV6 was a strong contender for MotorTrend SUV of the Year and we’re expecting big things from the yet-to-be-released full-sized EV9 SUV.
Despite all of that success, Kia isn’t resting on its laurels. The next kingdom Kia wants to conquer is the mid-sized pickup truck market. According to a report from Carscoops, Kia confirmed to dealers in Australia that not one, but two mid-sized trucks are on the way to contend with the Toyota Hilux also known as the Tacoma here in the United States. One truck will be electric while the other will be ICE and be sold in emerging markets. Kia confirmed that the electric truck will be built on the E-GMP platform that it shares with Hyundai. There are spy shots floating around of the truck being tested in camo but we decided to generate an AI rendering based on the Kia EV5’s design language to see what we may get. The results are compelling but likely not close to what the final product will look like.
Kia told the Australian dealers that it expects its truck to be a “genuine and serious rival” to the likes of Toyota’s mid-size offering. It looks like Kia wants to find the biggest kid on the playground and punch them in the nose on the first day of school. A bold strategy to say the least. The report suggests that the combustion version of the truck is what is meant for the Australian market, but could that mean the EV truck is coming to America? At the moment there are no signs or suggestions from Kia that the truck will make its way to North America. However, it isn’t totally without precedent.
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