Kia Australia may be throwing its hat in the ring for a new contender in the off-road market, eyeing a ladder-frame SUV based on the upcoming Kia Tasman. This potential addition would see Kia enter the fray currently dominated by the likes of the Toyota LandCruiser Prado and Ford Everest.
“We’d love one; but with Mohave already developed, and I know Mohave is a fairly old product now, but at this point in time globally you need a strong global case, not just an Australian business case,” Roland Rivero, General Manager of Product Planning at Kia Australia, told CarsGuide.
Kia highlights the potential for a Tasman-based SUV to compete effectively against established rivals. However, the green light hinges on international demand. “So we’d love to spawn a ladder-frame SUV, like an Everest competitor, out of that same platform. And theoretically you could, but it is something that we still have to negotiate hard with headquarters.”
The recent news of the Mohave/Borrego’s production ending strengthens Kia Australia’s case. This now-aging South Korean-built body-on-frame SUV could free up production lines for the Tasman. But, since the Mohave runs a V6 engine, we’d expect a similar powertrain, which hasn’t yet been confirmed for the Tasman. There is some hope though, as the Kia Tasman is undergoing emissions testing with a V6 engine in the United States.
“What we need for it to happen is other markets, major markets that source Tasman, to also want to have a ladder frame SUV,” Mr Rivero says.
“We’re hoping that South Africa or the Middle East would be keen on it, but at the end of the day we need all of the stars to align for something like to happen.”
What makes this even more likely is that Kia was spotted testing a Mohave SUV that had been converted into a serious off-roader in late 2023, shortly after announcing the production of the Kia TK ute (now known to be the Tasman). That leaves us asking, with plans to create a ladder-frame ute and the end of the Mohave in sight, why would Kia have been testing an offroad SUV?
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