Hyundai, Kia to create new pick-up truck to rival Hilux?

Hyundai, Kia to create new pick-up truck to rival Hilux?

It appears that Kia has commenced development of a brand new range of light pick-up trucks to rival the likes of the Toyota Hilux, Ford Ranger and Mitsubishi Triton, CarAdvice reports. The Korean pick-up is said to be based on a shared platform with Hyundai, and will hit markets by 2022 or 2023.

If this were to be true, the pick-up truck range will fill a reasonably large gap in both the brand’s product portfolio. Based on the same report, the pick-up truck market share in Australia is around 20%, which means Hyundai-Kia are losing out on potentially thousands of sales with high profit margins a year.

In Australia, Kia’s sales continues to grow in a slowing market, placing sixth in total volume, behind Ford. The addition of a pick-up model could very well springboard the Korean brand further up the ranks. Currently, the only Korean offering on sale in the market is the SsangYong Musso.

Hyundai, Kia to create new pick-up truck to rival Hilux?

Kia Australia boss Damien Meredith said: “The good news is there is a conversation [with KMC]. It’s still a way off, but we’re confident in the near future the group will have a light commercial range in Australia.”

Meredith has requested “the full gamut” of offerings, meaning single- and dual-cabs, diesel and petrol, and rear-wheel or four-wheel-drive. The models are said to get a market-specific suspension tuning, and testing could include extensive hot weather runs.

Kia Australia is targeting between eight to 10% market share, which based on last year’s 4×2 and 4×4 ute sales would be equivalent to around 20,000 units. That would be a significant boost to Kia’s total sales – the company sold close to 59,000 units of passenger cars and SUV last year. About time, isn’t it?

GALLERY: Hyundai Santa Cruz Crossover Truck concept

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Matthew H Tong

An ardent believer that fun cars need not be fast and fast cars may not always be fun. Matt advocates the purity and simplicity of manually swapping cogs while coping in silence of its impending doom. Matt's not hot. Never hot.

 

Comments

  • (Like) Hilux.
    (Dislike) Kia pikap

    Well-loved. Like or Dislike: Thumb up 227 Thumb down 48
    • Hidden due to lowcomment rating. Click here to see.

      Poorly-rated. Like or Dislike: Thumb up 18 Thumb down 151
      • K-Pop on Jul 26, 2019 at 3:34 pm

        Nowadays, there are so many Hyundai haters here.

        Well-loved. Like or Dislike: Thumb up 134 Thumb down 8
        • Hyundai and Kia on Jul 26, 2019 at 3:54 pm

          Hidden due to lowcomment rating. Click here to see.

          Poorly-rated. Like or Dislike: Thumb up 18 Thumb down 142
          • Automotive Fans on Jul 26, 2019 at 5:06 pm

            No matter how good the design is, people will still prefer Proton X70 over this Hyundai pickup truck. Even old Proton Arena quality is still much better than this Hyundai pickup quality.

            Well-loved. Like or Dislike: Thumb up 115 Thumb down 16
          • Truck lovers on Jul 26, 2019 at 5:24 pm

            If you like pikap trucks and want to show it to your friends and family then go for Ford Ranger, Toyota Hilux and Mitsubishi Triton. Go for Hyundai pikap if you want to drive it to carry rubbish to the dump

            Like or Dislike: Thumb up 44 Thumb down 8
          • Bernard Chandran on Jul 26, 2019 at 10:28 pm

            Hidden due to lowcomment rating. Click here to see.

            Poorly-rated. Like or Dislike: Thumb up 20 Thumb down 166
          • Dollah Said on Jul 27, 2019 at 9:28 am

            Proton workers should learn to work hard like Hyundai and Kia. I don’t see why Hyundai and Kia can do so well and Proton has done so badly with RM20 billion in bailouts given so far.

            Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 28
          • More fake new from this NST dupe reporter. Cukup lah nak menipu tu.

            Like or Dislike: Thumb up 14 Thumb down 1
          • Sanjay Krishnan on Jul 27, 2019 at 11:05 am

            You hit the nail on the head. Mr Mario aka John has been bad mouthing Korean cars for sometime now. We are disappointed with his negative ways

            Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 24
          • Mandy Leong on Jul 27, 2019 at 11:51 am

            @ Bernard Chandran

            Wah!!!! Hyundai Salesman ke?

            Like or Dislike: Thumb up 17 Thumb down 0
          • Fintan Tan on Jul 27, 2019 at 7:15 pm

            So many people are jealous that Hyundai has done well. Well, their secret is very easy. Just focus on your work and put your heart on your work when you work

            Car companies fail because most of the time, their workers goyang kaki in office and don’t bother to work.

            No point being jealous of others when you don’t put in the effort to succeed.

            Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 25
          • Roslan Basheer on Jul 28, 2019 at 8:49 am

            Same Mario aka Wilson who will thumbs down any pro Korean comment. Even in FB, same thing he does.

            very sad Proton fanboy

            Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 34
        • Because they no longer have reasons to hate Proton anymore (except for our resident troll).

          Like or Dislike: Thumb up 44 Thumb down 2
          • Sanjay Krishnan on Jul 27, 2019 at 11:07 am

            We must thank China for saving Proton. Locals could not manage Proton that we needed foreigners to manage Proton well. Today, Proton is doing well because of hard work ethics from China.

            Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 27
          • Bernard Chandran Best Comment Ever on Jul 27, 2019 at 7:18 pm

            I love it when comments are truthful and the people who makan cili rasa the pedas

            Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 40
        • Hyundai shouldn’t deserve for JD Survey on Jul 26, 2019 at 4:48 pm

          hyundai sudah tipu untuk JD Power kerana banyan issues untuk hyundai. Ini ialah BAHAYA HYUNDAI

          Like or Dislike: Thumb up 26 Thumb down 3
          • Fintan Tan on Jul 27, 2019 at 7:17 pm

            great comment from bro Bernard. It is so much truth that haters have down voted you. Well, one hater we know

            Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 16
  • If you buy Hyundai now, all carmakers fan are laughing at Hyundai Fans. Also All Carmakers think that Hyundai Fans are very stupid

    Well-loved. Like or Dislike: Thumb up 147 Thumb down 27
  • Real World on Jul 26, 2019 at 12:49 pm

    Ford Ranger is better than this Hyundai Pick Up Truck

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 37 Thumb down 14
  • yeast lump on Jul 26, 2019 at 12:53 pm

    making sure South Korean pickup will passed the moose test much better than high-lard.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 12 Thumb down 75
  • Kiashu99 on Jul 26, 2019 at 1:52 pm

    Nice! Bmw lights with Benz body.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 7 Thumb down 17
  • Mr. Octopus on Jul 26, 2019 at 2:28 pm

    Take my money

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 67
  • FudgeMeSideways on Jul 26, 2019 at 2:40 pm

    If they make this concept a reality, nothing unchanged, I’ll buy it in a heartbeat.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 12 Thumb down 72
  • Truckers on Jul 26, 2019 at 6:17 pm

    Unproven and too concept-ish to be workable. Usually those who have such visions for a pickup truck will over expect the resultant sales and quick to give up when reality don’t match. Go see Mercedes Benz X-Class.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 18 Thumb down 1
  • 4G63T DSM on Jul 26, 2019 at 6:28 pm

    But who will buy a Hyundai pickup ??

    They don’t have a tried and true ladder frame chassis like real trucks from ford, Toyota, GM and the rest

    Maybe they are thinking of a unibody light pickup like Honda’s Ridgeline…or a unibody UTE. Possibly based on their supersized Telluride and Palisade SUVs

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 7 Thumb down 0
    • Fordist on Jul 26, 2019 at 8:15 pm

      Taking a Santa Fe and lob of the rear compartment. They thought it was so easy to make a pickup truck? Come talk to Ford, the king of pickups.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 16 Thumb down 1
  • klguy on Jul 27, 2019 at 8:45 am

    thats a tough job to rival hilux…hilux is not just a pickup….on the highway its a race machine, can tapau any sports car on the road, yet when going offroad, most of the time will be the savior for the Defenders….

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 2
  • Handsome-looking beast of burden. Maybe Merc should have teamed up with Kia instead of Nissan which now looks to be in the boondocks. Other issues, aside, these Koreans know how to get their products designed and teched out. No wonder they are killing it in the US and Europe.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 10
  • vVivi Zurianti on Jul 27, 2019 at 7:26 pm

    Anything is better than the Toyota Hilux. Overpriced and under spec.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 35
  • Wesley on Jul 27, 2019 at 9:54 pm

    Hyundai and Kia cars are actually good and reliable cars but Malaysian mentality still at 80s because they are anti Korean cars. I do have 2 Korean cars (H&K) which for me as reliable as Japanese cars.. Just my 2 cents opinions here

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 58
    • Lessieland on Jul 29, 2019 at 12:04 pm

      That’s your opinion bro. But most people already dislike your comment so why everyone should listen to you?

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 11 Thumb down 1
  • jason on Jul 28, 2019 at 12:33 pm

    I hope it’s not gonna be like Hiace vs Pregio
    lol

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 49
  • tukang on Jul 29, 2019 at 1:19 am

    So many contractors and foremen here.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0
 

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