Kia is about to kick in a viral documentary outlining the Aussie effort that has gone into its new ute.

LOW profile here, the focus of a big time filming effort over there - that’s the latest on the ute coming to us from Kia next year.

Kia Australia is kicking up much more of a storm about the Tasman than our national distributor.

The marked difference in pre-release focus strategies seems strange, given it is likely to be of equal importance in both markets. 

Also, while the model isn’t set to go on sale until mid-2025, Kia is planning to fully reveal it within months. But who knew, right?

However, Kiwis keen to know more can find out plenty, simply by keeping an eye on what’s going across the ditch.

The next step is our neighbour’s campaign is a ‘Tasman see.’

It’s an online documentary series, commissioned by the brand, to further maximise public attention by highlighting how much Australian input has gone into the development programme for a 2025 model that is a big deal for both the Korean car-maker and the wider auto industry.

The full film is releasing on July 22, but there’s already a trailer to give a taste of what it delivers.https://youtu.be/YCFsRymGWNY?si=kVMeCk_0gE3nxS8j

Website car sales.com says the brand really wants to impress the degree rigorous durabilioty testing Tasman has undergone, so as to reinforce how serious it is about threatening established ute leaders.

To underline that this has been an Australian-led development programme, the series has been dubbed ‘One More Round.’ 

Kia says prototypes have undergone no fewer than 1777 specific tests across more than 18,000 rounds of evaluation, both Down Under and abroad.

The first episode will focus on off-road testing, with subsequent episodes set to showcase the Tasman’s wading capability, all-terrain durability, towing ability, outright performance and ride-handling prowess, and feature interviews with the research and development team.

“The Kia Tasman represents our unwavering dedication to innovation,” Kia research and development boss Heui Won Yang has been quoted as telling media in Australia.

“Every aspect of our R&D Division’s capability has been channelled into creating a vehicle that not only lives up to its title as the first of its kind, but also delivers performance that surpasses expectations.”

Kia says the episodes will be released between July and October, a signal carsales.com says, that it is all but confirming the Tasman will make its world debut in the fourth quarter of this year.

It’s anticipated the documentary series will steadily reveal the highly-anticipated new model’s key performance, capability and mechanical highlights.

Kia Australia has previously confirmed there’ll be a full range of body styles and drivetrains with the Ford Ranger and Toyota Hilux.

The core range will be powered by a variation of the Hyundai Group’s 2.2-litre four-cylinder turbodiesel that has just been pulled from the Hyundai Santa Fe.

There have been murmurs of the discontinued Stinger sports sedan’s petrol V6 sneaking into the range somewhere.

Carsales.com suggests that talk might have substance; it believes the vehicle in the teaser sounds more like a high-revving petrol six than any diesel – at least during the snippet of tow testing.

This is the first time the Tasman has been on film, but the second film about the Tasman. The first was a viral ad, released in Australia, that came out just before the vehicle was officially named, but dropped fruity hints about what that name would be. The ad was also a big spend effort, as it featured a big count of Australia-relevant sports stars. 

Kia NZ was asked about the chances of it being used here. It never got back to us on that one.