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News - Kia - TasmanCan Kia Tasman styling divide, then conquer?Kia Tasman designer defends new ute’s unforgivingly utilitarian and boxy styling11 Nov 2024 KIA faced a barrage of backlash after the Tasman ute was unveiled with a broadly negative reaction from Australian online commenters and potential customers.
The reaction was not directed at the arguably underpowered 2.2-litre diesel engine, for the most part, but instead at the boxy and utilitarian design of the brand’s first dual-cab.
Spare a thought for the man who had to front the media after the reveal of the apparently controversial-looking ute: John Buckingham of Kia’s Next Design Exterior Division.
Mr Buckingham made it clear that he has heard and felt the reaction from the public and the media, which in some instances was unerringly sharp.
“I care, yeah,” said Mr Buckingham. “And in fact, designers, I think, more than than anyone, we're emotionally driven people, right? So designers, we start off by trying to create this emotional connection with the product and this character.
“We're that cog in the wheel to create this kind of emotional connection with this car. I think it's a challenging one to explain why people might not resonate with it, but what I can do is I can explain why we believe people should be, or are going to, resonate with it,” said Mr Buckingham.
“So the car itself is built on function. It's an industrial design exercise. In contrast to a sportscar, which is … It's all swoopy lines and all this kind of stuff, it's a dynamic exercise.
“But we're derived by what we believe the customer needs, based on the inputs from the markets. Of course we have a layer of brand attributes – bold, simple, responsible – and then we have Kia design language stuff that we want to use.
“We can have the bases and foundation of it, so you kind of collect this together, and you'll end up with some elements of a design brief that you have to build upon.
“Then, once you've got these kinds of needs, then we have to say, ‘okay, what we planning to do with it?’ Are we going to be in some way a disrupter in the market, or we're going to align with the market?
“It’s the decisions we have to make within design, alongside global product, along with the regions and with this product, obviously, we needed to stand out. We needed to stand out from the competitor set in Australia, and that's where we chose a progressive design,” he explained.
“Progressive being one of the brand pillars, we always push for progressive design solutions. So the car itself is upright, bold, because it reflects the best-in-class interior volume. I mean, you can't have a cabin that's shrunk around and doesn't have shoulder space, and expect the shoulder space so it directly reflects the internal volumes.
“And then, by using these facets and chamfers, we created this sense that it is a utilitarian product. It's something you can rely on, something you can use. It's not over-stylised in the sense that things have function and purpose.
“It’s more of an industrial design exercise with with this car design mentality over the top,” he said.
Mr Buckingham also said that once people see the Tasman in person, and see it more regularly, their opinions may change, and competitor products may also follow s simlar path to this ute.
“We've seen it for a while now, both interior and exterior, and we've seen it on the roads, driving around, we've seen it in Korea compared to the other products that are in Korea, and it stands out.
“It stands out for good reason, because it's bold, upright, strong and capable … That aesthetic sense is going to result in people understanding what the purpose of it is as well,” said Mr Buckingham.
Dual-cab ute buyers tend to be tribal, and perhaps the Tasman might take a little while to build its own following. But those ‘tribes’ tend to be fuelled by private buyers, and Kia Australia says it has a strong fleet focus for this model.
The business says it has intentions to sell more than 20,000 units of the Tasman, with approximately 50 per cent of those likely to head to fleets and business customers.
Customers in these categories are, invariably, less concerned about whether they like the look of a vehicle as opposed to whether it will do the job it is expected to do.
Time will tell if the Tasman can reach its lofty goals, but it will need to best a number of big-name players in order to reach its full-year sales target of at least 20,000 vehicles. Ford and Toyota dominate the sales tallies, with both expected to be up near 60,000 units this year. From there, the gap is wide to the Isuzu D-Max in third spot, with a likely result of around 30,000 units. Behind those are the Triton, Navara, Amarok and GWM Cannon.  Read more |
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