Kia Tasman Raptor rival: What we know so far about the explosive Ford Ranger Raptor-chasing high-performance mid-sized pick-up

Kia has dropped its strongest hint yet that rivalling the class-leading Ford Ranger is just the start of its ambitious mid-sized ute strategy.

More specifically, an alternative to the wildly successful Ranger Raptor might be in the pipeline, with the company suggesting that if it is going to have a go, then it may as well go all-in or else go home.

Speaking to the Australian media, Kia Australia (KAU) product planning manager, Roland Rivero, dropped some very tantalising hints as to what may be in store for the mid-sized ute project codenamed ‘TK’ but also known as ‘Tasman’.

“As mentioned when dissecting that category, there’s many sections of it I think every OEM (original equipment manufacturer) would desire to have a crack of it, and we’re no different,” he revealed.

“Raptor’s been around for a while, and back then it was a four-cylinder bi-turbo (diesel), but we’re always looking at who are the main benchmarks, and Ranger is a main benchmark.”

The last remark is interesting, as it could be interpreted as Kia taking the TK/Tasman to the next level compared to the Raptor and its 292kW/583Nm 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 petrol.

It may do this by either adding electrification to its anticipated 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo-diesel powertrain choices, or even going the whole hog with a battery electric vehicle (EV) as the performance flagship.

That’s not as far-fetched as it sounds.

As CarsGuide outlined recently, Kia globally more or less confirmed that the TK/Tasman project is one of two EV utes it will release by 2027 as part of a 14-strong EV model line-up.

“Kia will add two electric pick-up trucks – a dedicated electric pick-up truck and a strategic model for emerging markets…,” the press release from March, 2022, states.

As such, with Australia shaping up as the biggest market for TK/Tasman, the local team led by Rivero is laser-focused on providing every opportunity for its mid-sized ute to succeed - especially in a class crowded with decades-old established players like Ranger, Toyota HiLux, Nissan Navara, Mitsubishi Triton and the Isuzu D-Max.

“We’ve dissected that category, that segment, 4x2 and 4x4 pickups, and we’re mindful of where the big opportunities are,” he revealed to CarsGuide.

“Our intention as a brand is to ensure that if we are going to play in that category, that we’ve got to do the right thing by this new product and make sure that it is successful.”

To that end, KAU collaborator, Graeme Gambold of Gambold Testing Services, added that taking on something like the acclaimed Ranger, let alone developing a Raptor challenger, is no mean feat.

“The challenge would be to make it as good as the prime benchmarks, and that means doing some pretty tough work to get a heavy ladder-frame high-centre-of-gravity vehicle to be as good as what we can see in the current offerings,” he said.

“It hasn’t presented any challenges as yet, but I’m sure as we get into the fine tuning, there would be a lot of heated discussions of components that need slight upgrades and things like that, which we’ll have to negotiate on.

"But the suppliers and head office are pretty keen making sure that it’s right, so I don’t think there will be too many compromises, but it will be a challenging task.

“I know what Ford has been doing down at the You Yangs, and all those guys are really on it, and they’ve been working for a really long time to get that current Ranger as good as it is… so it’s a big job.

“We’ll spend weeks at proving grounds, we’ll make sure we get it right. It’s happening now.”

The TK/Tasman EV’s anticipated specifications readily lend themselves to big performance, even in a dual-cab one-tonne pick-up weighing in at 2.5 tonnes or more, thanks to electric motors within the wider Hyundai Group that, even today, muster in excess of 270kW and 700Nm combined, mounted on each axle for four-wheel-drive capability and fed by 100kWh-plus battery packs providing well over 500km of range.

But even if Kia’s Raptor alternative does not electrify, it will still possess a heady dose of power and torque to keep the Ranger range-topper honest, with at least 200kW and around 600Nm available from the aforementioned 3.0-litre six-pot turbo-diesel.

Keen to be king of the mid-sized ute class, Kia is pulling no punches.