There was plenty of speak about electrical pickup vehicles from Hyundai or Kia, and each are anticipated to supply such autos. Nonetheless, they gained’t debut this 12 months, which implies the KGM Musso EV will beat them to market because it’s anticipated to make its official debut in South Korea someday within the first quarter of the 12 months.
If KGM (the shortened type of KG Mobility) doesn’t ring a bell, that’s as a result of it’s a carmaker that lately rebranded itself after submitting for chapter in 2020 and discovering a brand new proprietor. The corporate was previously referred to as SsangYong, a South Korean producer of crossovers and SUVs, tracing its roots again to 1954 with many fashionable high-riding fashions beneath its belt.
One in every of tts most well-known fashions is the Musso, which is being was an EV-only sub-brand inside KG Mobility. Its first product is the KGM Musso EV, a pure electrical pickup previewed by a close-to-production idea in 2023 (pictured). The collection mannequin stays very near the idea when it comes to design—it’s nearly equivalent to the examine.
Below its relatively good-looking pickup physique lies the identical platform that underpins the Actyon, a BMW X3-sized SUV, in addition to the smaller Torres. The latter has a totally electrical variant referred to as the Torres EVX, which has a single 190-horsepower motor driving the entrance wheels and a 73.4-kilowatt-hour battery, giving it a WLTP vary of 287 miles (462 kilometers).
We don’t know if this similar battery pack (made out of cells equipped by BYD) will energy the Musso EV pickup—its stretched wheelbase may accommodate a bigger pack. The idea had “Torres” embossed into its tailgate, hinting it was a pickup model of the two-box crossover. KG Mobility confirmed that the truck will function all-wheel drive, which implies it’s going to have a dual-motor powertrain. So it ought to pack extra oomph than its crossover sibling.
In line with Drive.com.au, KG Mobility plans to promote the Musso EV pickup exterior South Korea. Australia and the UK will get right-hand-drive variations of the mannequin, nevertheless it’s unclear if it’s going to attain different markets, similar to Europe. Given the pickup’s crossover-derived underpinnings and unibody development, this Ford Ranger-sized EV won’t be a heavy-duty providing. It is extra of a life-style truck, like a Hyundai Santa Cruz.
Since KG Mobility hasn’t launched any photographs of the manufacturing mannequin that we will use, we have embedded a video walkaround from the revealing posted by a channel referred to as VehicleLuv. The video is in Korean, nevertheless, so you may have to activate the translated captions if you wish to know what they’re saying. Nonetheless, it is our greatest look but.
Kia has additionally confirmed it’s engaged on an electrical model of the Tasman pickup, however we don’t know when it’s going to arrive or which markets it’s going to attain. The combustion-powered Tasman will debut within the first half of the 12 months in Korea, however it’s going to even be bought in Australia, the Center East and certain different markets which have but to be introduced. But it surely’s undoubtedly not coming to the U.S.
Final 12 months, there have been a few sightings of what regarded lots like a Kia EV9 with a crew cab and a mattress within the again. It was both a mule that used a part of an EV9’s physique for testing functions, or Kia actually goes to launch an EV9 pickup. Again in 2022, the automaker introduced its plan to introduce 14 new EVs by 2027, two of that are pickups—this may very well be the second mannequin after the Tasman EV. It may be a mannequin extra suited to North America.
Hyundai can be recognized to have at the least one electrical pickup undertaking within the works, nevertheless it gained’t merely be its model of what Kia is engaged on. Current studies counsel that it may use a platform equipped by Normal Motors as the bottom for its EV truck. In line with the Korean Automobile Weblog, the EV9-based prototype noticed final 12 months is, in truth, a mule utilized by Hyundai, not Kia, to check its upcoming electrical truck (which may very well be a spread extender), because it additionally featured elements from a Hyundai Santa Cruz.
