Hyundai Australia will launch its first dual-cab ute to challenge the market-leading Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux in 2028 on the earliest, and it says there are lessons to be learned from the slow-selling Kia Tasman.
Speaking on the launch of the updated Hyundai Staria people mover and Staria Load business van, Hyundai Australia chief operating officer Gavin Donaldson said the South Korean automaker is taking a cautious approach.
Hyundai Motor Group (HMG) brand Kia introduced its first dual-cab ute, the Tasman, in mid-2025 and since then it has failed to satisfy the corporate’s sales expectations.
“[If] you are a football coach, you [don’t] need to speak about your opposition,” Mr Donaldson said.
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“I take a look at [Tasman] and go, whatever the end result, they’ve a product that is in a market that generates… it’s 20 per cent of the market.
“So no matter their overall performance, I still take a look at it and go, they’re getting incremental sales by having it out there, that’s improbable. The marketing launch, I feel they did well with branding and all that.
“Why they’re probably not attending to the degrees they need, they may have a greater answer from that perspective.
“But I take a look at it and go, they’re participating in a market that we’re not, and I wish we were.”
Hyundai is considered one of only two top-10 brands in Australia not to supply a ute, with the opposite – Chery – set to launch its Stockman diesel plug-in hybrid (PHEV) dual-cab later this yr.
For the third consecutive yr, the Ranger was Australia’s best-selling vehicle in 2025 and continues to guide the market this yr to the top of May.
The Hyundai Boulder Concept, revealed on the 2026 Latest York Motor Show in April, is a rugged off-road SUV based on a ladder-frame chassis which the corporate has said will form the idea of a future ute.
It’s considered a stronger prospect for Australia than the dual-cab Santa Cruz ‘lifestyle’ ute, which is currently Hyundai’s only ute and is sold only in North America. It was first revealed almost a decade ago and has previously been ruled out for Australia due to its car-based monocoque underpinnings, that are shared with models including the Hyundai Tucson mid-size SUV.
“There’s a robust Australasian, you realize, through the Asian corridor market that we’d like to have a look at, and there is all various kinds of utes that suit those segments,” Mr Donaldson said.
“We have got two or three that we’re still working through.
“We have got an amazing recent director of product [Rodolfo Stopa] who’s working really closely with the teams overseas, so depending on timing, what sort of powertrain – we’re EREVs [extended-range electric vehicles]. Will that be the case? Will there be an EV option?”
While the Tasman is diesel-only at this stage, an all-electric version of Kia’s first ute has long been within the plan, but Mr Donaldson said Hyundai is being cautious with the powertrain strategy for its inaugural ute.
“In the event you’re bringing out one tomorrow, you almost certainly need to have something diesel, but we’re not launching anything in the subsequent six months or so. For us, we’re just trying to have a look at what is precisely the appropriate model that we wish to launch.
“In the event you take a learning from the Tasman, you realize, for us it could be what’s the appropriate ute you would want, what’s the proper powertrain you would like at the moment, and what’s the longevity of that powertrain [in the market]?
“That is probably why we’re taking that little bit longer, but we wish to ensure that after we get it, it’s exactly what the Australian market needs and what they have been waiting for.”
This Article First Appeared At www.carexpert.com.au
