Kia plans to launch a pickup truck for American customers within the coming years, because the South Korean automaker plots continued progress domestically and globally.
The corporate mentioned Thursday it can add a pickup truck that features hybrid variants by 2030 as a serious growth of its model into the extremely profitable U.S. market. At the least one hybrid variant is anticipated to be produced within the U.S., in line with a presentation from Kia’s CEO investor day.
Detroit automakers Basic Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler mother or father Stellantis dominate U.S. full-size pickup truck gross sales, nonetheless Kia reportedly plans to have its pickup be a smaller, midsize mannequin.
That may place the car towards the industry-leading Toyota Tacoma in addition to the Ford Ranger and GM’s Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon, amongst different entrants.
“Accounting for roughly 20% of whole demand, the U.S. pickup market represents a key strategic section. Given its strategic significance, Kia will launch a brand new Physique-on-Body pickup mannequin to broaden our buyer base,” Kia CEO Ho Sung Music mentioned, in line with the presentation.
Kia expects to promote 90,000 pickups a 12 months in North America and declare 7% of the midsize pickup section by 2034, in line with Automotive Information.
Kia final 12 months entered the worldwide pickup truck market with a car referred to as Tasman. It isn’t instantly clear whether or not the corporate would use that identify or any elements from it for the deliberate “U.S.-specific” pickup truck or how a lot its U.S. car would price.
Kia didn’t instantly reply for request for remark concerning the gross sales targets or whether or not all variants of the deliberate pickup can be produced within the U.S.
Its pickup truck plans have been introduced through the automaker’s 2026 CEO investor day, the place it additionally mentioned it is anticipating rising annual U.S. gross sales to 1.02 million automobiles and reaching 6.2% market by 2030. That compares with gross sales of greater than 850,000 models final 12 months and a roughly 5% market share.
Kia CEO Ho Sung Music on April 9, 2026 through the firm’s CEO Investor Day in South Korea.
Courtesy Kia
The U.S. is essential to Kia’s progress globally. The corporate mentioned its world gross sales jumped from lower than 2.8 million automobiles in 2021 to three.14 million final 12 months. Kia by itself is the world’s eighth-largest automaker, however ranks third when mixed with its mother or father firm, Hyundai Motor.
Kia mentioned Thursday it is concentrating on world gross sales of 4.13 million models and a 4.5% market share by 2030. That may be up from expectations of three.35 million models in world gross sales this 12 months and a 3.8% market share.
The corporate additionally introduced plans to proceed releasing new all-electric automobiles in addition to a serious push into hybrid and electrical extended-range automobiles, or EREVs, together with the deliberate pickup truck for the U.S.
