Kia's hotly-anticipated maiden ute has reached dealers across Australia in limited numbers, ahead of a rush of stock for customer deliveries next month.
The first examples of the 2025 Kia Tasman ute have arrived in Australian showrooms in limited numbers, ahead of a ramp-up in deliveries next month.
The circa-2000 customers who have reserved a Tasman since pre-orders opened in April can start to sit in and test drive Kia's new ute in the metal, as examples flow into dealers across the country.
Kia says only a "small quantity" of vehicles has arrived in June, before ramping up in July as planned, towards a target of 10,000 deliveries by the end of this year.
Many dealers are electing to keep their first Tasmans arriving in June on site as test-drive and display vehicles.
A list collated by the Kia Tasman Club owners' group suggests vehicles are already on display in New South Wales, the ACT, Victoria (vehicle pictured at the top of this story shared by McRae Motors in Wodonga), Queensland, and Western Australia.
All models in showrooms are initially dual-cab pick-ups, ahead of the dual-cab chassis' arrival in a month's time, and the single-cab chassis in the fourth quarter of the year (October to December).
RRPs for the dual-cab pick-ups start from $42,990 before on-road costs for the S 4x2, and top out at $74,990 for the X-Pro 4x4 off-road flagship.
The only tub-less model to receive a price tag thus far is the entry-level S 4x4 dual-cab chassis, priced from $48,240 before on-road costs.
Kia Australia has previously expressed its satisfaction with the near-2000 pre-orders it had received as of the start of this month.
"Without [buyers] seeing the product [in the metal], without customers physically feeling, touching, sitting in the product, we're really encouraged by the early interest," Dean Norbiato, Kia Australia marketing chief, told Drive.
"Then talking from a marketing standpoint, the web traffic so far in general interest has been like no other vehicle that we've had.
"The next step for us is to get the thing to launch, get it into dealerships and get bums on seats because I think that's when the real excitement of the product is going to take over. Seeing is one thing, but sitting in it is when we feel people become believers in the product."
Alex Misoyannis has been writing about cars since 2017, when he started his own website, Redline. He contributed for Drive in 2018, before joining CarAdvice in 2019, becoming a regular contributing journalist within the news team in 2020. Cars have played a central role throughout Alex’s life, from flicking through car magazines at a young age, to growing up around performance vehicles in a car-loving family. Highly Commended - Young Writer of the Year 2024 (Under 30) Rising Star Journalist, 2024 Winner Scoop of The Year - 2024 Winner
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