Confirmed: Kia Developing New Pickup… for Australia

The idea of a Kia pickup isn’t anything new. Back in July 2019, the brand’s COO in Australia said the project had received the green light. It was supposed to launch at around the same time as the Hyundai Santa Cruz, but of course that didn’t happen. Put the blame on the pandemic, I guess.

Following a recent dealer conference down under, Kia confirmed that a pickup is currently in development and would hit the market in 2025. No other details were provided, but Australian website WhichCar claims it will have close ties with the Mohave SUV that’s sold over there (pictured below).

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Unlike the Santa Cruz, which uses a unibody construction, it appears that the future Kia pickup will be built on a body-on-frame chassis. Regular and double cab body styles as well as a choice of gasoline and diesel engines are reportedly planned.

The goal is to compete in the midsize segment against the likes of the Ford Ranger and Toyota Hilux. Kia is said to be considering other markets beyond Australia, but there’s no sign yet that North America would be among those.  

The good news for us is that Kia’s “Plan S“ strategy, which was revised last year, calls for 14 new electric vehicle models to be launched globally by 2027.  

Two of them will be pickups—one for emerging markets, and another to be sold on our shores. Production will take place in the U.S. starting in late 2024. Once again, that’s all we know at this point. The electric pickup could share design cues with the freshly unveiled Kia EV9 three-row SUV. Watch out.