The other name Kia Australia suggested for its new ute is one steeped in local automotive and geographic history – and it has made it to modern showrooms on a different car.
Kia Australia has revealed the name it first proposed to head office in Korea for its maiden dual-cab ute, before it came to be known as Tasman: Tanami.
And – in the months since the Tasman name was locked in and announced – the Tanami badge has returned to new-car showrooms after a hiatus, via the Tanami Taupe tan colour available on the new Toyota Prado Altitude.
Derived from the Northern Territory and Western Australia desert of the same name, the Tanami badge was rejected by Kia head office in South Korea, leading to the Tasman name being submitted and accepted.
"We initially had submitted the name Tanami ... and that wasn't quite well received by our top management back upstream in Korea," Kia Australia head of product planning Roland Rivero told local media at the Tasman's launch.
"Then we thought, oh well, what do we do next? We were somewhat disappointed that wasn't accepted, because we really wanted a name for our region, and that's where Tasman came about.
"It was Dean [Norbiato, head of marketing]'s idea, by the way, the Tasman idea, but it was product planning that submitted that name to headquarters.
"We submitted on a Friday and it was approved [by Kia HQ], pretty much, by Monday. The problem was I hadn't told Damien [Meredith, Kia Australia CEO] on Friday, and Damien wasn't very happy because he's got a memory that goes beyond where my memory goes."
Rivero is referring to the Tasman name's use on the Austin Tasman, a sedan developed by British brand Leyland for Australia in the 1970s, which proved too small to compete against the Holdens and Fords it was aimed at, and was ultimately unsuccessful.
The official inspiration for the Kia Tasman name is Abel Tasman, who is credited as the first European to sight Tasmania, with the sea between Australia and New Zealand also named after the Dutch explorer.
It wouldn't have been the first time Tanami has been used on a car, applied to two special editions over the past 30 years: the 1994-95 Land Rover Defender Tanami, and the 2001 Mitsubishi Pajero Tanami GLS.
Much like the new Prado's Tanami Taupe option – in off-road Altitude form only – Tanami has been used in other vehicle colour names, including for a brown shade offered on the Mitsubishi Magna in the early 2000s.
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
