Kia will launch an "unprecedented" pre-launch campaign for its new Tasman ute, essentially touring the country to connect customers with the vehicle so they can see, sit in and experience the brand's first dual-cab for themselves.
It comes following what could be described as a lukewarm reaction to the Tasman's exterior design following the vehicle's unveiling in Tasmania.
The online feedback reached Kia Australia's Chief Operating Officer, Dennis Piccoli, who told CarsGuide the internet reaction was very different to that of the people who had seen the vehicle in the metal, and that Kia would launch an unprecedented campaign for more people to see the Tasman live ahead of its launch.
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“Look, they haven't seen the car. That's the first thing,” he said the morning after the unveiling.
“We've had various focus groups over the past few days. Equally, we've had corporates in, fleets in, and we've had our dealer network responsible for selling the product. And the feedback, generally speaking, for those that have seen it has been positive both in terms of the way the car looks from the outside and the inside."
To ensure 'bums in seats' Kia will essentially give the Tasman an early mark in Australia, with evaluation cars set to arrive months ahead of the vehicle's official mid-year launch.
The move, said Kia, is 'unprecedented', and should ensure customers have a chance to look, feel and even drive the Tasman well ahead of order books officially opening.
"We're talking to the factory at the moment. To us, I think it's a matter of getting bums in seats as quickly as possible," Piccoli said.
"So there are ongoing negotiations in terms of building up an evaluation fleet, and building up the capability of our dealer network in terms of the training side of things, getting them to touch and feel the car.
"Then we go into roadshows ahead of the car's launch, and then we utilise a approach wherein the entire network and our fleet department, (and) various fleet organisations, have use of the car. So we get people in there driving it because that's going to be the point of difference for us.
"The car is very capable, it's very dependable and we're very confident that we'll be able to hit the numbers, but we need to get bums in seats."
Kia said the move could kick off as early as March next year – months ahead of the official launch – which means customers could be visiting their Kia dealer as early as Q1 next year.
"It usually kicks off at production time where you use production-spec cars and then you would tour them around. We're looking to get well ahead of that, upwards of four or five months ahead," said Kia Australia's marketing chief, Dean Norbiato.
"[We need to] get them into circulation and invite customers into see them. We want to get to every dealer prior to launch.... It's very dependable and we just need to get more people to sit in it and see it and then obviously take it for a drive and test that capability."
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