As Kia prepares to introduce its Tasman ute in 2025, Mazda Australia, currently the market’s second leader, remains unfazed by the looming competition. Alastair Doak, Mazda Australia’s head of marketing, conveyed a confident stance during the recent launch of the updated MX-5, emphasizing that “new competition” is “always welcome.”
“We just need to do our thing with the BT-50,” Doak told Drive.com.au. “We have never been a company that’s chased number two, or number one. We have a business plan, and we want to get to our number one.”
Mazda’s BT-50 accounted for 17,526 of the brand’s 100,008 vehicle sales in Australia last year, trailing only the CX-5 SUV with 23,083 sales. Kia, meanwhile, ended the year with 76,120 sales, placing it fourth behind Toyota, Mazda, and Ford.
Kia’s business case for the Tasman includes a target of 20,000 annual sales, potentially bringing it closer to Mazda’s sales figures. The Tasman aims to capture market share from other models, including Mazda’s BT-50, in the competitive light-commercial vehicle segment led by the Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger.
Doak, however, remains unconcerned about market rankings. “Ultimately, if we are number two, or number three, or number four, or number five, it doesn’t really matter to us as long as we are giving our customer base what they want,” he said.
