2025 Kia Tasman: The rival utes it needs to beat on price, capability, performance, servicing, and more

With the launch of the 2025 Kia Tasman ute launch quickly approaching, if Kia wants to make a splash the way the brand expects it will need to beat – or at least match – a few in-market rivals in key areas.

Aussies are demanding more from their utes than ever before, often needing to pull triple duty between a reliable workhorse, a family hauler, and a weekend warrior all in one.

And with some car brands having spent decades honing their ute, the Tasman is no doubt facing an uphill battle as it breaks new ground for Kia.

Here is what the 2025 Kia Tasman is up against.

One of the most affordable dual-cab 4x4 utes on the market is the SsangYong Musso, which is priced from just $40,000 drive-away.

Even the top-of-the-range Musso comes in at just under $50,000, meaning the flagship SsangYong ute is less expensive than mid-grade models from other brands.

The Musso is also the only other South Korean ute available, meaning there will be a bit of national rivalry between it and the Tasman.

However, Kia is leaning heavily on giving its all-important ute the Australian treatment, with marketing – and even its name – a nod to the Tasman’s most important market.

Will the Tasman beat the Musso on price? Almost certainly not. Kia will likely position it closer to dual-cab 4x4 market leaders like the Toyota HiLux (from $48,420 before on-road costs in Workmate form) and Ford Ranger (from $54,380 in XLT guise).

With rugged ladder-frame underpinnings and a big tray in the rear, styling isn’t exactly the primary reason buyers would opt for a ute.

But aesthetics are important, and utes need to tread that fine line between tough and tasteful to appeal to the widest audience possible.

We think Mazda’s BT-50 is one of the most attractive out of the current ute cohort, looking perfectly in place in a showroom alongside the CX-5 and CX-90, while also right at home on the worksite or campsite.

We’ve not seen exactly what the Kia Tasman will look like in production form, but the model wrapped in camouflage has given digital artists – including Theottle (top of story) – plenty of work over the last few months.

The Tasman is expected to sport chunky fender flares, wide headlights, and prominent underbody protection, dialling up the rugged factor, but when it looks so different from everything else Kia is offering, will buyers gravitate towards it?

The plan is for the Kia Tasman to launch with a four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine, with the potential for higher-performing and hybrid powertrains to come in the future.

And from all the four-cylinder turbo-diesel engines out there, we’d rate the Ford Ranger’s 2.0-litre bi-turbo unit as the best.

Delivering 154kW/500Nm to all four wheels, the engine is also matched to a 10-speed automatic transmission that in its latest iteration, largely fades into the background and lets the Ranger get on with things.

The most recent speculation about the Tasman engine is that it will use a version of the Sorento’s 2.2-litre unit, which makes 148kW/440Nm under the bonnet of the large SUV.

However, Kia will likely tweak the engine and tune it closer to 150kW/500Nm – the benchmark for four-cylinder dual-cab ute performance that is also exactly how much power and torque the Toyota HiLux’s 2.8-litre engine produces.

A one-tonne payload and 3.5-tonne braked towing capacity, that is the standard the Kia Tasman needs to work towards to be considered a proper ute player – and they are key targets Kia Australia has communicated to head office in South Korea.

Arguably the most capable utes in the market are the Isuzu D-Max/Mazda BT-50 twins, boasting impressive payload numbers (variant depending) that will be enough for gear in the tray and passengers in the cabin.

The Isuzu and Mazda are also ultra-competent off-roaders, serving up a bevy of features like off-road driving modes, a locking differential, and four-wheel-drive high and low modes.

Expect the Kia Tasman to at least mirror these features. Spy photos show it will go a step beyond and offer a four-wheel-drive auto mode as available on the likes of the Ford Ranger, capable of operating in four-wheel drive on sealed roads.

Last year, the Ford Ranger topped not just the ute sales charts, but was crowned the most popular new motor vehicle in Australia.

Ford reported a staggering 63,356 Rangers as sold last year, beating out its fierce rival, the Toyota HiLux, by 2245 deliveries.

Kia’s Tasman will need time to ramp up from its mid-year launch, meaning its 2025 year-end sales total will not be representative of where it will sit in the ute hierarchy.

But the brand has stated in the past that 20,000 annual sales – or 10 per cent of the market – is where it needs to be for the business case to stack up.

Based on last year’s sales results, 20,000 deliveries won’t even get you on the podium in the ute sales race.

However, 20,000 vehicles would likely be enough to make the Tasman the most popular Kia model in Australia, outselling the likes of the Sportage and Seltos.

In the ute space, if Kia can hit targets, the Tasman could be more popular than the Nissan Navara, Mitsubishi Triton, and Mazda BT-50, but still trail the big-selling Ford and Toyota models, as well as the Isuzu D-Max.

The HiLux’s reputation for being ‘unbreakable’ might be a carry-over from an older, less complicated generation of vehicle, but there’s a reason why the Toyota workhorse is so popular in Australia.

Not only is it one of the most affordable utes to service, with scheduled maintenance prices capped at just $290 for the first five visits.

It is worth noting those five visits can be exhausted in two and a half years – rather than five years of its rivals – due to the HiLux’s sub-standard six-month/10,000km intervals, compared to the norm of 12 months or 15,000km.

However Toyota has the largest dealer footprint in Australia (around 300 showrooms), so you can at least service it nearly everywhere.

We obviously have no details on the aftersales experience with the yet-to-be-revealed Kia Tasman, but the brand does count a sizeable 156 dealerships as part of its local presence, and it has an ace up its sleeve – its warranty period.

Kia’s seven-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty is almost industry-leading and is two more years of assurance compared to the Ranger, HiLux, and Navara.

It’s not a lock just yet, but if the Kia Tasman can come to market with that warranty, it will look very attractive to buyers who like to work their utes hard.