After years of hints and reporting suggesting that Kia has been contemplating producing an all-electric pickup truck, onerous affirmation lastly landed at an occasion hosted by the automaker in Korea. Per Jalopnik, executives got here out and stated {that a} Kia EV truck is going on, and that improvement is already underway. Right here we should always level out the plain—that this new electrical pickup is just not the identical factor because the bizarrely styled Tasman launched for sure international markets final yr. The 2 have been by no means one and the identical, despite the fact that just like the Tasman the EV is anticipated to be a midsize pickup as nicely.
The electrical truck (we have included renderings right here of a would-be Telluride pickup, however the eventual manufacturing truck is extra more likely to resemble a pickup-ified EV9 SUV than the rest) additionally will get its personal platform, one thing Kia’s hinted at since 2022, although it is not but clear whether or not which means it’s going to be tailored from the E-GMP structure that at present underpins virtually each Hyundai-Kia EV, together with the EV9 three-row SUV some have speculated the truck may very well be spun off of. But when it is truckier, it might probably characteristic a body-on-frame-type design.
Kia outright says the electrical truck it is engaged on will go head-to-head with choices together with the Ford Ranger and Toyota Tacoma, per Jalopnik, which suggests it’d additionally face up in opposition to the Nissan Frontier, Chevrolet Colorado, GMC Canyon, and Honda Ridgeline right here in America. To some extent, we might embrace the Rivian R1T in that group, because it’s the one all-electric midsize-ish truck obtainable (or, put one other approach, it is the smallest EV truck you should buy right here, even when its footprint lands it someplace between conventional midsize and full-size rigs). Oh, and Kia is concentrating on some 90,000 gross sales with the EV truck.
Given the worldwide commerce surroundings—which was simply as topsy-turvy in the course of the Kia occasion final week as it’s right now—now we have to imagine Kia is planning on constructing this new truck in America. In any other case, it might be topic to tariffs and never qualify for the EV tax credit score (for so long as that is round, if the Trump administration decides to undo it). Kia has manufacturing sources right here, so it is not a stretch to suppose that the automaker would have the ability to hearth up extra capability for one thing with as a lot potential upside as an inexpensive electrical truck.
The one key query left, in addition to particulars such because the truck’s powertrain, battery capability, hauling capabilities, and extra, is after we can see this new Kia debut. With improvement automobiles already noticed within the wild, as Jalopnik factors out, the wait should not be lengthy—search for the EV Kia pickup to indicate itself for the primary time in some production-intent type inside a yr or so.
