Over the next five years, Kia plans to launch several new models as part of its “Plan S” business strategy for 2030. We’ve already covered a few notable announcements like the “PV” van series. That particular range will bring in the PV5 later this year, the PV7 in 2027 and the PV9 in 2029 (I see what you did there, Kia). During its investor day Wednesday, though, the Korean automaker announced plans to launch a new pickup truck for the North American market. No, not that one.
While the Kia Tasman has made some enormous buzz since first making its appearance late last year, it’s seen its fair share of controversy…and you can (literally) see why. Scrolling through your comments, it doesn’t seem too many American truck buyers are too keen to see it over here. Whether you’re on that side of the fence or not, the Tasman will remain an overseas model, and we’ll get something different on our shores.
Here’s the rub, though: Kia’s new truck hitting the U.S. market will strictly be electric. To that end, it sounds like we’ll effectively have another rival to the Rivian R1T and the Tesla Cybertruck, as well as the Big Three’s offerings if it’s large enough. We don’t have any more details on this pickup at the moment, though Kia clearly wants some slice of the American truck market. Kia is targeting 80,000 annual sales of the Tasman without the North American market, and it’s even more ambitious with this electric model. For this yet-to-be-named EV, Kia says its targeting a “long-term” annual sales target of 90,000 units.
Even with the current market climate, Kia’s attitude sems to be to charge ahead bold as brass. Under Plan S, the company aims to launch five new models in 2025 alone, and have 15 electric vehicles and 10 hybrid options on the market by 2030. Remarkably specific figures include 4.19 global sales, with a bit more than half the mix being electric (1.26 million) or hybrid (1.07 million).
We’ll have to wait and see when Kia divulges more information, including when it actually plans to put this truck on sale and how much it might cost.
