Kia Australia targets stronger Tasman sales through dealers, fleet work and marketing push

Piccoli acknowledges room to improve

Kia Australia chief executive Dennis Piccoli has conceded the brand can do a vastly better job of selling its Tasman ute, telling GoAuto the company will work through its dealer network, product planning, marketing and fleet department to grow volumes beyond current levels. Speaking at the Australian launch of the new-generation Seltos, Piccoli said Kia was still new to the ute market compared with established players. His comments were reported in a GoAuto article published on 30 October 2026. ¹

"Are we satisfied with it? We'd like to sell more cars. It's as simple as that," Piccoli told GoAuto. He described the path to higher volume as a progressive rollout rather than a single step change. Piccoli would not reveal specific Tasman targets for 2027, saying objectives were still being developed, but confirmed Kia was "looking for growth over this year with our shadow of a doubt". ¹

Deliveries far short of the original target

According to VFACTS data reported by GoAuto, a total of 7,898 Tasmans had been sold in Australia to the end of September 2026 since the model's local launch in July 2025. The same report noted that between the July 2025 launch and July 2026, just 7,231 examples were delivered locally. These are delivery and sales figures, not order bookings, and the 7,898 cumulative figure is the latest authoritative count in this reporting. ¹

The shortfall is substantial against Kia's original ambitions. As GoAuto reported in late 2024, Kia projected 20,000 Tasman sales and a market share of seven to 10 per cent within its first calendar year on the market, with a 50/50 private-to-fleet sales split. The cumulative 7,898 deliveries over roughly 15 months sit well below what a 20,000-unit first calendar year would have required. ¹

A slow start documented over the past year

The soft performance was visible early. In December 2025, Carscoops reported — citing figures published by GoAuto — that only 3,716 Tasmans had been sold in Australia around five months after debut, with 2,262 registered between July and September 2025. Carscoops estimated an annualised pace of roughly 11,148 units, about half the original projection, and noted the figure represented about 19 per cent of the 60,000 units planned for production in South Korea. Its first-year sales estimate is an extrapolation, not a target. ²

At a December 2025 media briefing reported by Carscoops, then Kia Australia chief operating officer Dennis Piccoli acknowledged the brand was missing out in the entry-level, fleet-heavy end of the market, where lower trims were not attracting their expected share of buyers, while high-spec X-Line and X-Pro variants were going relatively well. He cited a fragmented dual-cab segment, multiple powertrain options and heavy competition. Note that Carscoops' December 2025 article drew on GoAuto-reported figures, so the two publications' sales numbers share an underlying source rather than providing fully independent corroboration. ²¹

By April 2026, CarExpert reported Kia Australia chief executive Damien Meredith saying the Tasman had not performed as expected: "We certainly wanted more volume out of Tasman – that hasn't occurred." CarExpert reported 1,167 Tasman sales in 2026 to that point, behind the Ford Ranger 4x4 on 11,592, Toyota HiLux 4x4 on 8,951, Mitsubishi Triton 4x4 on 4,856 and Mazda BT-50 4x4 on 2,358 — all figures to April 2026. ³

Fleet mix and the electrified ute question

The fleet-versus-retail mix has not matched Kia's original projection. Piccoli told GoAuto the current split is "probably 25 per cent fleet and 75 per cent retail", against the originally projected 50/50 split. He explained Kia had deliberately positioned the Tasman down the middle of the road, observing that Ford skews toward the retail and lifestyle space while Toyota skews toward fleet. He said Kia is making inroads in the fleet space, with volumes currently predominantly ABN and retail. ¹

On powertrains, Piccoli backed the Tasman's diesel strategy, telling GoAuto that "the real data suggests that the market still remains in that diesel space" and that the diesel powertrain is fit for purpose for a workhorse. He did not rule out an electrified Tasman entirely, pointing to work across multiple powertrains within the organisation. Data on the Australian Automobile Association's Electric Vehicle Index, cited by GoAuto, showed more than 88 per cent of utes delivered in Australia to the end of Q2 2026 were internal combustion only, in a market that includes the BYD Shark 6 plug-in hybrid, Ford Ranger Hybrid, GWM Cannon and Cannon Alpha PHEV, Toyota HiLux BEV and MG U9 EV. ¹

Facelift denied; levers still being assessed

Any response to slow sales will come through commercial and product levers rather than an early facelift. In April 2026, Kia Australia product planning manager Raymond Pok told CarExpert there was no fast-track for a Tasman facelift, saying the focus was on the current form and that normal lifecycle timings would apply. CarExpert noted a mid-life update remains likely within a couple of years, but with no concrete information yet. CarExpert also reported the Tasman range at that point included fleet-oriented 4x2 single-cab variants priced from $38,010 before on-road costs, a list price that should not be compared with drive-away estimates on a different basis. ³

Meredith told CarExpert in April 2026 that Kia would pursue every possible avenue — value adds, pricing and repositioning — without naming specific tactics. "We've got to look at every lever you can pull," he said. Piccoli's October 2026 comments to GoAuto extend that position to 2027, with targets still under development and the dealer network, product, marketing and fleet channels identified as the growth levers. What those 2027 targets will be, and whether any pricing or product actions follow, remain unstated in the current reporting. ³¹