Kia Will Present Tasman-Based SUV To Compete With Ford Everest

Kia Tasman. (Doc. Kia)

JAKARTA - Kia is rumored to be building a Tasman model-based Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) to rival Ford Everest in the global market.

The news was revealed by one of Australia's local media, who said that the General Manager of Kia Product Planning in Australia Roland Rivero would negotiate to get the green light from the automaker.

Quoting from the Top Gear PH page, Thursday, May 30, Roland even revealed that he would strongly negotiate to produce the rival Ford Everest SUV. But this will not happen in the near future, as Rivero says it needs to build strong global arguments and not just for Australia.

"Right now what we need for this to happen is another market, the main market that supplies Tasman, which also wants to have a model-based SUV (Tasman).

Rivero hopes that South Africa or the Middle East will be interested in the plan, but he said he needed all parties to unite so that plans could occur.

Apart from South Africa and the Middle East, Kia may also have to conduct case studies in Southeast Asia. It's not just the Philippines that loves pickup-based SUVs. Thailand is arguably home to them, and this type of SUV performs well in neighboring countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam.

Even so, this will be a gamble for Kia if he plans to enter the medium SUV market. Not without reason, apart from Ford Everest, the current Japanese brand is already large in that segment, such as Fortuner, or Montero Sport. In addition, in order for the plan to progress, Tasman himself must prove his success in the core market.