https://www.carscoops.com/author/chris-chilton-cc/
April 9, 2025 at 10:01
Kia has revealed it’s building an electric pickup for the North American market.
The truck will be built around a new EV platform and beat rivals for space.
Kia promises advanced infotainment and safety features, plus off-road ability.
Kia’s EV rollout shows no sign of slowing down, and the automaker isn’t scared to push into segments it’s never played in before, including electric trucks. The Korean company confirmed that it would launch an electric pickup in North America, and it should be here within the next couple of years.
Related: Kia Confirms First Midsize Pickup For America
Trucks are consistently some of the best-selling vehicles in the US, and although Kia doesn’t have any on sale in America, it recently revealed the aesthetically-challenged Tasman that’s already earmarked for sale in Australia, another nation of truck lovers.
Skipping the Tasman, Straight to EV
But it looks like Kia isn’t interested in bringing the Ford Ranger-rivaling Tasman to the US, and will instead jump straight into the electric pickup market with an entirely different truck. We already knew, thanks to a spy video captured last year by Kindel Auto, that an EV was in development, with the prototype showing a more conventional Kia front-end design, and intel suggesting body-on-frame construction.
No details on its size were given today, but Kia CEO Ho Sung Song had previously expressed a desire to sell a mid-size truck to the US – one that would be built in the US, probably at Hyundai’s Georgia plant, to avoid both the older Chicken tax on imported light trucks and Trumps new import tariffs. Hyundai should get its own version of the pickup.
Kia’s statement says the pickup will be built on a new platform and be ‘designed for both urban and outdoor use.’ It described the model as ‘innovative,’ claiming it would have best-in-class interior and cargo space, a ‘robust’ towing system, be capable off road and have advanced media and safety systems.
Big Goals in a Small Market
Kia says its long-term goal is 90,000 annual sales and a 7 percent market share of the overall truck market. Ford only sold 7,187 examples of the F-150 Lightning in Q1, and Tesla shifted fewer than 12,000 Cybertrucks, so Kia is really aiming high with its new electric hauler.
But electric pickup choices are few and far between, and there are literally no options for anyone wanting a midsize or smaller electric truck, meaning Kia could be shooting at an open goal if it gets the thing to market quickly.
But how quickly it’ll come, Kia didn’t say. Based on last year’s spy shots, we’d say a 2026 or 2027 debut looks realistic. We’re hoping it has some of the butch attitude of the new Tasman Weekender revealed this week (pictured below), but we’re still not sure about that face.
The Kia Tasman Weekender concept study.
