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Diesel priced above $3 per litre is the latest roadblock facing a promised surge in demand for the controversial Kia Tasman ute.
Kia has acknowledged high fuel prices are “making it harder” to sell its diesel-powered Tasman ute – but it admits its biggest struggles to make inroads on the Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux are not a result of conflict in the Middle East.
Compared to a target of 10,000 sales in 2025 – after launching in July – 4196 were reported, while last month’s tally was only 399, compared to 472 in February 2026.
Kia Australia CEO Damien Meredith told Drive the fuel crisis is “definitely making it harder” to shift utes.
“In volume terms, it's not [a significant drop], but in where we want Tasman to go and achieve: yeah, it doesn't help our cause, that's for sure.”
However, he said Kia “can't use external environment aspects to say that that's the reason why we've got a lot of work to do with Tasman.
“It seems because we started the journey such a long time ago, but the vehicle hasn't been in market for 12 months yet. There's a lot of work to do to get to lift the volume, and we don't shy away from that.”
Meredith said Kia will look to finance deals and “value-add” offers to help grow interest in the Tasman.
“There's value add considerations, there's finance considerations. There's a host of things that we can do and have done,” said the Kia boss.
“But we've got to get the right mix, fix the curriculum, so to speak, to make sure that we're lifting sales and that that nameplate is growing.”
Less of a focus is a price cut, Meredith telling Drive “at this point in time, we believe there are other levers that we need to pull before we pull the price lever”.
Kia is currently offering all Tasman dual-cab pick-ups except the S with a tow bar, tubular side steps and soft tonneau cover at no extra charge, a return of similar accessory pack offers it has marketed in recent months.
Lower interest rates on in-house finance have also been offered, plus a brief $3000 cut in the drive-away price for the X-Line grade.
The full Tasman line-up is now in showrooms, following the early 2026 arrival of the single-cab chassis, and staggered rollout of genuine accessories.
“We've got no excuse now, the full range is there. In simplistic terms, we've done well with lifestyle [buyers]. We haven't done well at fleet at this point in time, and we haven't done well in rural provincial markets,” Meredith said.
“That's where our focus is, and we've got to lift those those segments to get Tasman on to a volume level that's acceptable.”
About 40 per cent of Tasman customers are existing Kia owners, the executive said.
While the fuel crisis is hurting interest in the Tasman, it has supercharged sales of Kia electric cars, now accounting for 40 per cent of orders – up from 12 per cent.
“What we're doing now is specifically 40 per cent BEV [battery-electric], 30 per cent hybrid and 30 per cent ICE [pure petrol or diesel],” Meredith said.
“Our inventory and our orders, our pipeline, are pretty much attuned to that mix at this point in time, so we're in reasonable shape.”
Alex Misoyannis has been writing about cars since 2017, when he started his own website, Redline. He contributed for Drive in 2018, before joining CarAdvice in 2019, becoming a regular contributing journalist within the news team in 2020. Cars have played a central role throughout Alex’s life, from flicking through car magazines at a young age, to growing up around performance vehicles in a car-loving family. Highly Commended - Young Writer of the Year 2024 (Under 30) Rising Star Journalist, 2024 Winner Scoop of The Year - 2024 Winner
