The Kia Pickup Looks Like Nothing Else and That Might Be a Good Thing

I’ve watched Kia tease its new Tasman pickup from afar, knowing full well it probably won’t sell the truck here. I read something last week about its weird fenders and how Kia plans to sell different ones to people who don’t like the original design. “Interesting,” I thought. But when I saw the Tasman fully revealed this morning, I was even more… intrigued? I want to put it nicely.

I’ll let you decide for yourself whether it’s good or bad. What’s indisputable is that this is one strange design, with headlights in the fenders and quite a lot of grille up front. The most fitting word I’ve found to describe the face is bulbous, which I think sums up the schnoz pretty well.

Kia will sell the Tasman with two or four doors as a pickup or a chassis cab. That’s your clue it’s destined for international markets like Australia where tray beds are so popular, as well as Africa, the Middle East, and domestically in Korea. And while I’m almost weirded out by the full four-door pickup, it looks 10 times better like this:

That’s why I can’t decide how I feel about it. One picture makes my facial muscles contract involuntarily, while another makes me want one. Either way, it leaves an impression, which was probably the goal.

The Tasman packs two available engines: a 2.5-liter gas power plant making 277 horsepower and 311 lb-ft of torque, plus a 2.2-liter turbodiesel that’s rated at 207 hp and 325 lb-ft of torque. A six-speed manual transmission will be available in some markets while an eight-speed automatic is standard in others, with both two- and four-wheel-drive options.

It will tow up to 7,716 pounds and carry up to 2,635 pounds of payload, per Kia’s official specs. The Tasman has a double-wishbone front suspension, and out back you’ll find traditional leaf springs for doing hard work. Y’know, the more I write about it, the more I like it.

But after seeing it in full, I’m even more convinced that Kia didn’t design the Tasman to sell in the United States. It’s almost the antithesis of our safer-looking pickups that sell by the hundreds of thousands each year. People who are tired of that might welcome a more “out there” look, but they have the market stacked against them, as well as a cheeky Chicken Tax that would put a 25% tariff on the Tasman unless Kia decided to build it at its Georgia plant. I just don’t see that happening.

Got a tip or question for the author? Contact them directly: caleb@thedrive.com