Home » The New Kia Tasman Is A Design Disaster

The New Kia Tasman Is A Design Disaster

Tasman Adrian Styling Ts
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Finally, after what seems like an eon of teasing, Kia has pulled the lurid vinyl wraps off the Tasman, the brand’s first entry into the piranha-infested waters of the compact pick-up truck market. Kia and their sister brand Hyundai have latterly been gaining a lot of praise from some quarters for their current designs, so the world has been waiting to see exactly how they would approach a new, and potentially very lucrative segment.

It’s worth remembering that the pickup truck, as much as it defines the US market, is not a uniquely American proposition. We’ve been enjoying Mitsubishi L200s, Ford Rangers and VW Amaroks in the UK for a couple of decades now, and the Toyota Hilux for even longer. American full-sizers do occasionally make their way on British shores as well via private import or specialist dealers. Farmers love their combination of capability, performance and comfort; this combination of attributes is not available in anything else. Regarding compact trucks, a quirk in UK tax regulations meant small one-person businesses could buy a higher trim Ranger Wildtrak and use it as a personal vehicle, something that Ford UK, ever with their eye on the ball, was happy to exploit. Although that tax loophole has now been closed, the fancy compact pickup has remained popular with the sort of people who decorate their houses with stone bulldogs on the outside and union jack cushions on the inside.

Vidframe Min Top
Vidframe Min Bottom

It’s a similar story in the upside-down colonies. The traditional car-based Aussie ute died when Holden was killed, so consequently American full sizers have exploded in popularity. Toyota is soft-launching the Tundra to fleet customers ahead of an official rollout. Along with the usual compact-sized suspects from Ford, VW, Toyota and now the Chinese OEMs, it’s a bloodbath down there. All this is a roundabout way of saying the worldwide compact pickup market is vast, and the various marques have consolidated their offerings. Essentially the same trucks are available across all non-North American markets, so it’s no surprise that Kia, currently enjoying their time in the sun, wants to get involved.

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What Exactly Is A Kia?

As a car designer, it’s always a fun and useful thought exercise to imagine a brand coming up with something they don’t currently make. For car design students it’s a useful jumping-off point for a project, and as an educator it tells me a lot about how well a student understands a brand’s design language, identity and the market.

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For example, when I was a student, a compact Fiesta-sized baby Jaguar was an old chestnut that kept popping up because everyone was angling for a job a JLR. I never thought much of the merits of that idea, because fifteen years ago Jaguar was an ostensibly premium brand attempting to be a British BMW. You have to consider what fits. When I studied at the RCA, my tutor J Mays told me to look for the gaps in an OEMs range – what don’t they currently make that they could?

Back then the idea of a Ferrari, Rolls Royce or Aston Martin SUV would have seen me laughed out of the studio, but the market got too lucrative for them to ignore. How successful these cars are from a design point of view is a discussion for another time, but there’s no arguing with what they bring to the bottom line. For Kia, the issue is slightly different.

For an OEM with a strong brand and a clear visual identity it’s easier to transpose those characteristics onto a new type of vehicle you don’t currently build. With Kia, it’s a bit tricky, because what exactly is a Kia? Some willfully different for the sake of being different detailing aside, taken individually their cars are mostly pretty good, although I really cannot get on with the Z shape of the lights on the K5, nor the down-turned mouth rear lighting on the EV6. But taken one by one on their own terms, they are not bad at all.

The problem comes when you look at the entire range. It’s hard to draw a consistent through-line across all their cars. There’s no underlying theme joining them all together. It seems like nothing really unites them visually. Now, this is not by and of itself necessarily a problem. I’ve talked before about how this allows mainstream OEMs a great deal of freedom to make compelling-looking cars without having to adhere to a family look. The problem comes when you do move into a totally new segment; then you’ve not got brand recognition to fall back on – nothing to tell consumers that “this new pickup is a Kia.” The way to avoid this trap is to create something really compelling that’s impossible to ignore. Unfortunately for Kia, they’ve made something that’s impossible to ignore for all the wrong reasons. The Tasman is hideous.

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Eugene Levy Wants His Eyebrows Back

The first thing your eyes are drawn to, because you simply cannot avoid them, are the totally incongruous fender flares. Standing proud like Eugene Levy’s eyebrows, these oversized slabs of black polypropylene look like they’re from a completely different truck. Because they extend too far forwards and backward in the longitudinal axis, they don’t fit the shape of the wheel arch at all. Neither do they wrap around the entire opening, hampering their ability to protect the painted sheet metal. Look at how a Defender uses its cladding if you want to see this done properly.

According to our friends over at Motor1, Kia Australia CEO Damien Meredith knows the fender flares are contentious:

“It’s very good news. I can assure you that accessory [fender flare] will be there at launch.” What I like to call the “Tom Selleck mustache” will be optionally swapped out in favor of extended fender flares surrounding the entire wheel arch.

Motor1 goes on to say that it will also be possible to option them in body color. I think the effect is going to be like attempting to cover a particularly angry spot on your face with one of those flesh colored make-up sticks. This all suggests that after the body in white had been signed off someone, somewhere in the studio found their glasses and realized an almighty clanger had been dropped, and they had to scramble to come up with last-minute solution fixes. If you think I’m talking out of my ass, look at the short cab in black with the drop side (tabletop for our resident Australians) bed. Because it instantly banishes half the fender flares and camouflages the remainder against the bodywork, it instantly looks 100% better. Well 50%.

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Whales And Planes

Moving around to the front, bloody hell. Oy vey. Insert your choice of hands-in-the-air expression here. I think the Kia exterior team must have had either a Beluga whale or Beluga Airbus, or possibly both on their mood board. How else to explain the Tasman’s oversized grill surround which protrudes into the air like a giant metal forehead, neglecting to bring the headlights or radiator grill itself along with it for company? Or indeed visual balance. Ripped straight from the Kia Global Tasman press release:

“The Kia design team deliberately shunned the familiar form language that has dominated the pickup genre for decades. This fresh approach to aesthetics strips away the unnecessary to begin with a basic, honest form that highlights the vehicle’s sense of solid power through simple yet functional elements, without relying on the oversized styling that has come to dominate the pickup segment.”

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Kia Retona
The Kia Retona. Image Credit Kleinanzeigen.de

Now it’s no surprise that from a design point of view the embutchification of pickup trucks has been an ongoing problem ever since Dodge debuted the Big Rig second generation Ram way back in 1993.

Since then it’s been a chrome-plated arms race in the manner of ‘Fuck Everything, We’re Doing Five Blades’ as OEMs try to out do each other to make the most aggressive-looking trucks known to man, subtlety, nuance, and small children be damned.

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Kia’s word salad appears to say they are deliberately attempting to not do that, but they didn’t exactly not do it either. In a way, by integrating the headlights into the fender flares they designed themselves into a corner – forcing the lights to be too small in comparison to the height of the hood and consequently the grill surround. A kind interpretation would be that it references the Dodge Power Wagon. But I’m not being kind so I’m going to say it suggests the Kia Retona, an abysmally cross-eyed device from the late eighties that was a civilian version of the K131 Jeep that was foisted on an unsuspecting South Korean military. Everything at the front is just out of proportion – like a particularly derpy sea creature from the bottom of the Mariana Trench whose features are too small for its face. Yikes. Chuck it back.

The Quartic Steering Wheel Is Back, Baby!

Opening the door and stepping inside the situation gets better. It’s not Tacoma, Defender or Wrangler levels of rugged, but it’s cohesive and pleasant enough, even if there’s a paucity of hard controls. Considering the Tasman is meant to be a working vehicle as well as a lifestyle one, this is curious. No amount of knurling on the door handles is going to make up for a lack of chunky switches that can be used with gloved hands on the worksite. Also, the steering wheel is giving me British Leyland flashbacks, as it appears to yoinked straight out of an Austin Allegro. The center console has a natty fold-out table, but like the under-seat storage, this is something we’ve seen before. It does all feel tilted toward the lifestyle part of the brief though, so it will be interesting to see what the more basic, harder-wearing commercial versions are going to look like.

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Remember what I was saying about Kia not having a consistent visual identity? That’s why KIA is stamped on the tailgate in letters so large they can be seen from the International Space Station. The view from the rear is much more successful than the front, but then again there are fewer ingredients to fuck up. If it all aligns and makes sense and you don’t try to add features that are not necessary you’re golden. Given their propensity for mangled, messy surfacing on other cars in their range Kia has surprisingly not given in to that temptation here. There are corner steps in the rear bumpers, but again this is something cribbed from other pickups.

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How Did They Manage To Mess Up The Brief?

I’ve been following the online discourse on the Tasman since it was revealed this morning, and the consensus to put it mildly is one of abject horror. A sentiment I agree with wholeheartedly. [Ed Note: I actually love it, but I also love the Australia-only Jeep CJ-10 pickup from the 1980s -DT]. The whole thing is just too stodgy, too blocky, and too upright. You don’t want a pickup to look sporty and dynamic because that would be stupid, but angling the sides a bit above the beltline to give the cursed thing some tumblehome would help a lot without pinching any head and shoulder room. Likewise raking the rear windshield forward just a couple of degrees would loosen the whole thing up, and make it look less brutal.

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Kia can and has made some genuinely terrific-looking cars in the past. I always thought the Optima was a solidly handsome thing, and the Stinger was one or two overwrought details (the tail lamps wrapping in line down the rear fender always bothered me) away from looking really nice. The Sportage, Telluride and Carnival are pretty good for what they are. They are capable of good design when they try.

What they’ve served up this time is a sort of NPC compact truck. The Tasman doesn’t have the reputation of a Hilux, or the market ubiquity of a Ranger. For a fickle and competitive sector, you need a compelling-looking, cohesive design. Instead, the Tasman looks like a truck built out of parts from several other trucks, made from Lego by someone being given a description over the telephone. The stance is bad, the fender extensions are misguided and the whole thing is just a horrible inconsistent mess.

On some fundamental level, pickup trucks are just cool. Or at least, they should be. It comes with the territory. It’s a bit like designing sports cars or muscle cars – a dream assignment. I used to love drawing pickup truck versions of the [redacted] when I was in the studio. You’ve got to try really hard to fuck it up. But that’s what Kia has managed to do. The Tasman is the sum of several bad parts and somehow manages to be less than all of them.

Unless otherwise stated, all images courtesy of Kia
Top graphic: Eugene Levy in Schitt’s Creek 

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Jack Trade
Jack Trade
6 hours ago

That steering wheel looks like it should be in the Cybertruck.

It must be difficult to style interiors for these kinds of things, as rugged/tough/tactical seems at odds with sleek screens. To the layman, it often looks like a hodgepodge of styles, with a temptation toward “too much” attempts like the compensating interior door handles.

Fruit Snack
Fruit Snack
6 hours ago

It’s a goofy looking thing for sure. But arguing that the cab needs to be angled or raked more is silly nonsense and adding fuss where none is needed.

Lizardman in a human suit
Lizardman in a human suit
6 hours ago
Reply to  Adrian Clarke

I have to agree with you, Adrian. This truck looks like one of those back yard, plywood, “custom” jobs made in a cheap tin shed. A slight tilt like you suggested would help dispel that notion, at least in the greenhouse. Nothing short of a complete redo of the rest of the sheet metal will save the rest, though.

Eric Gonzalez
Eric Gonzalez
6 hours ago

Looks like something Ssangyong would design

D-dub
D-dub
3 hours ago
Reply to  Eric Gonzalez

Imagine a Chinese knockoff of an early 90’s Hyundai.

Icouldntfindaclevername
Icouldntfindaclevername
6 hours ago

My fist thought was it reminded me of the Hummer H3

Lardo
Lardo
5 hours ago

very much so. that crossed with the new land cruiser

10001010
10001010
6 hours ago

Between the grille and the profile I’m getting strong Jeep Gladiator vibes off of this.

Phantom Pedal Syndrome
Phantom Pedal Syndrome
6 hours ago

Did KIA poach a designer from YETI for this thing?

Last edited 6 hours ago by Phantom Pedal Syndrome
Andiamo345
Andiamo345
6 hours ago

They will sell a gabillion of these, and I personally think it’s fine. Especially fine in that base cab steelies version although most will probably come in the ultra lux matte army tan model. If it came to the US they would sell another gabillion of them probably. A double gabillion of people can’t be wrong!

4jim
4jim
6 hours ago

Kia makes a perfectly serviceable truck I would be happy to buy: https://special.kia.com/en/kia/subpage/models-km450/Cargo-Truck.do

Renescent
Renescent
7 hours ago

This makes me feel so much better about the styling of my Nissan Frontier P4X.

Dodsworth
Dodsworth
7 hours ago

Like Eugene Levy in “Best Of Show”, this thing was born with two left feet. The silver and black wheels are nice, though.

ChefCJ
ChefCJ
7 hours ago

It looks like a small car wearing football pads

Musicman27
Musicman27
7 hours ago

Coming out with a product that’s about as handsome as a skunk-butt-rug is not a great move if you want to build a good reputation for a new product. They either need to give it an immediate facelift or hope the general populace has really really poor taste… hold on, that might actually work!

Last edited 7 hours ago by Musicman27
Ryan L
Ryan L
7 hours ago

While I don’t love it I think it’s the inevitable end state of the TRDization of trucks and SUVs and it will likely be a sales hit.

Timbales
Timbales
7 hours ago

An ugly, overly rugged-ized pick-up? Pretty much business as usual for that segment.

Timbales
Timbales
7 hours ago
Reply to  Adrian Clarke

True. But most of the pick-ups out there are ugly.

Red865
Red865
6 hours ago
Reply to  Timbales

Dont forget the ‘wilderness’ Subarus…

Pupmeow
Pupmeow
4 hours ago
Reply to  Red865

Nothing says “wilderness” like a bunch of useless hunks of plastic!

Timbales
Timbales
4 hours ago
Reply to  Red865

I remember back when “Outback” was the rugged, plastic clad trim level for the regular Subaru model.

Canopysaurus
Canopysaurus
7 hours ago

Oh thank heavens, it isn’t just me. When I saw the first pictures of the Tasman last night with those black buboes protruding from its flanks, my first thought was, ‘I didn’t know trucks could get the plague.’ And that nose?! It looks like the xenomorph from “Alien.” Love your take on whole thing. Back to the drawing board Kia and shame on you making the Cybertruck look good.

Peter Maciejewski
Peter Maciejewski
7 hours ago

Thanks for the Onion reference.

Delorean859
Delorean859
7 hours ago

Glad to know it was just as ugly without camo as I thought it was with camo

Angrycat Meowmeow
Angrycat Meowmeow
7 hours ago

As a whole I think everything Kia makes is just a few overwrought details away from being really good. The weird continuation of the Stingers taillights (and too many fake vents), weird zigzags in the headlights, poorly done floating C pillars…If they would just tone it down a notch they’d all be fine.

The front end of this thing is weird in all the wrong ways. There are some weird looking cars but they make it work. It’s like they set out to make it weird and made damn sure it didn’t work.

Shooting Brake
Shooting Brake
7 hours ago

The interior looks pretty good, but UGH, the exterior looks like it was designed by preschoolers.

I truly don’t understand how the exterior design was approved for production.

Shooting Brake
Shooting Brake
4 hours ago
Reply to  Adrian Clarke

I mean, really, in all seriousness, how could anyone look at the final exterior design and approve it. I simply cannot comprehend anyone saying that “It looks great” But yet, here we are looking at this production vehicle. unbelievable! (☉̃ₒ☉)

Acevedo12
Acevedo12
7 hours ago

I have a feeling some rally lights or a light bar could do a lot to fix that face

Citrus
Citrus
7 hours ago

This is a very specific reference, but it looks like a car cobbled together for a mid-tier ’90s sci fi movie about cloning Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Data
Data
7 hours ago
Reply to  Citrus

There’s someone in my house eating my birthday cake with my family, and it’s not me!

NC Miata NA
NC Miata NA
7 hours ago

At least that one version with the utility bed came out pretty good if you ignore the parts in front of the bed.

OverlandingSprinter
OverlandingSprinter
6 hours ago
Reply to  NC Miata NA

Came here to say the same thing. Putting flat-bed models on showroom floors with the regular beds would at least bring people in the door who aren’t shocked by the bad styling.

I’m not really interested in pickups, but when I saw Adrian’s byline I started to read this. I thought no auto journalist would make me laugh out loud as much as John Phillips, but Adrian’s writing sets the standard for engagement.

MiniDave
MiniDave
7 hours ago

I don’t always agree with Adrian’s point of view re design, but this time he’s hit the proverbial nail…..it’s awful. What’s happened to clean, cohesive design?

I also would like to know the dimensions, since I think the idea of a “compact” truck has gotten seriously blown up!

Last edited 7 hours ago by MiniDave
VS 57
VS 57
7 hours ago

Gene is still using his eyebrows. I’m thinking Tom Snyder.

Shooting Brake
Shooting Brake
7 hours ago
Reply to  VS 57

Or going way back, Groucho Marx!!

AssMatt
AssMatt
7 hours ago
Reply to  VS 57

Eugene Levy is the Mr Brow to Peter Gallagher’s Brow King. Snyder’s an also-ran.

H4llelujah
H4llelujah
7 hours ago

I’m glad someone said it. All the media sites seem to be afraid to say anything about the design at all, and I mean……Just LOOK at it.

Hyun/Kia have been on a design roll lately, this is such a step in the wrong direction.

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