Many Americans love their SUVs and pickup trucks — they have actually become the best-selling vehicles in the United States despite increasing prices, according to Axios.
In an attempt to capitalize on the popularity of this segment of the market, Kia has confirmed that it’s creating a new midsize pickup truck for U.S. customers. More details will be coming during Kia’s Investor Day scheduled for April 9, 2025.
Kia Planning a US-Focused Pickup Truck
Kia is well aware of the love affair the United States has with trucks and is set to reveal a midsize pickup truck next week that’s focused on the North American market. This will be entirely separate from the Tasman, revealed in 2024, a capable and chunky off-road pickup that will be released globally.
A Weekender version of the Tasman was introduced during the Seoul Mobility Show in South Korea. Kia CEO Ho Sung Song told Autonews around this time that the Tasman would not be coming to the United States when it launches in early 2025. Instead, Kia is hoping to penetrate the U.S. pickup truck market with an entirely different vehicle.
“We are now seriously studying how to get into the pickup truck market in the United States through a different model that is not the Tasman,” Song teased.
Until April 9, we will likely not get any further confirmed details about the pickup. That hasn’t stopped rumors from floating around in recent weeks. Some believe the pickup could be electric, which would fit into America’s growing EV market. Other industry rumors include Kia assembling the pickup at Hyundai’s Metaplant America facility to avoid 25% tariffs on imported trucks and the potential of both car brands releasing their anticipated pickups simultaneously between 2026 and 2029.
America’s Love Affair With Pickups
It makes sense to create a pickup truck specifically focused on the United States market, with Kia likely hoping to appeal to Americans with features and design elements they’d prefer. The United States has a very large pickup truck market already, dominated by popular trucks like the Chevy Colorado, Ford F-150, and Toyota Tacoma. There are already electric trucks on the market, like the Tesla Cybertruck and the Ford F-150 Lightning.
MotorTrend’s report of the best-selling vehicles of 2024 shows that pickup trucks and SUVs are dominating the market. The Toyota RAV4 was the most popular vehicle last year, followed by the Ford F-150, which saw a year-over-year sales gain of 194,094 units over 2023’s sales. The total sales for Ford’s F-series were 732,139 units in 2024.