KIA expects 50 per cent of its buyers for its upcoming Tasman dual-cab ute will come from the fleet sector and that the ute could account for up to 10 per cent of all new ute sales in Australia.

That optimism could mean Kia, with no previous experience in the ute market in Australia, could see a full-year sales target of 20,000 to 25,000 units – a real challenge in the tribe-like ute market.

How will the South Korean maker meet those sorts of goals? According to Dennis Piccoli, chief operating officer for Kia Australia, fleet buyers and businesses are a key driver for the potential success of the Tasman.

Mr Piccoli said fleet customers have been vital in the development process of the Tasman, and their feedback has been used to shape the vehicle to meet buyer and user expectations.

“In the whole development process, we’ve had a select group of fleets come through … and we do pretty well in that fleet space with our SUV line-up historically,” Mr Piccoli said.

“So they’ve been involved from the get go, had a quick look at the car, and we’ve had a group in yesterday morning where we showcased it, walked them around it, and got a bit of feedback and got some opinion,” he said at the launch event of the Tasman in late October.“And then equally, in the next few weeks, we have another group heading up to Korea to have a look at, and drive it. 

“So it’s in its infancy at this point in time, but there’s some prospects out there. Clearly, from a volume perspective, we’ve been talking forever about hitting around 20,000 units.” 

For reference, the current state of play in the ute market is that Ford and Toyota dominate the sales tallies, with both expected to be up near 60,000 units this year. From there, the gap is wide to the Isuzu D-Max in third spot, with a likely result of around 30,000 units. Behind those are the Triton, Navara, Amarok and GWM Ute.

“We think the fleet versus the private/tradies and all that sort of stuff, we reckon the mix is probably going to be around 50:50,” Mr Piccoli said. 

“There’s scope in that corporate (space) there’s scope in government, local council, as well as in that rental space. So we reckon probably 10,000 a year or thereabouts, is probably where it needs to be. 

“So I think there’s plenty of opportunity, and we’ve got stuff that we’re working through at this point.”

Kia Australia Dennis Piccol

The styling is seen as very courageous and online reaction to the Tasman has been firmly negative in terms. Many have called out the specs of the ute as being at the lower end.

For reference, the Tasman runs a 2.2-litre turbo-diesel four-cylinder engine with 154kW and 441Nm, with the ‘bragging rights’ torque figure lower than most rivals.

Fleet customers may not care as much about it as private buyers and Kia said it is confident the vehicle’s inherent attributes will help it sell.

John Buckingham of Kia’s Next Design Exterior Division, acknowledged that the Tasman’s look may seem confrontational at first.

“More than anyone, designers are emotionally-driven people, right?,” Mr Buckingham said.“So as designers, we start off by trying to create this emotional connection with the product and this character. We’re that cog in the wheel to create this kind of emotional connection with this car. 

“I think it’s a challenging one to explain why people might not resonate with it, but what I can do is I can explain why we believe people should be or are going to resonate with it.

“So the car itself is built on function. It’s an industrial design exercise. 

“We’ve seen it for a while now in both interior and exterior design and we’ve seen it on the roads, driving around, we’ve seen it in Korea compared to the other products that are in Korea. 

“And the Tasman stands out and it stands out for good reason. It’s bold, upright, strong and capable, and that aesthetic sense is going to result in people understanding what the purpose of it is as well.”

The Kia Tasman ute range is due to go on sale in 2025 in Australia.