The Thailand Special Thread - New Developments/News

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by whynot

Body on frame
Leaf springs at rear
17" steel rims out of the box on base models, with 18" on the rest (no need to swap/sell the useless 21")
Tyres are not the crappy Goodyear Wrangler Territory with soft sidewalls (Kumo AT51???)
Engine seems typical for the lower end of the 4WD market.
Payload seems typical
Towing load seems typical
Loss of sales to Kia might help Ford sharpen their pencil on Ranger pricing.

As much as I despise the Ranger, I don't think the Ranger customer is the kind of customer who will cross shop it against Kia Tasman, its the bougie private buyer queen and the Kia Tasman is going to be competing at the lower tier with shit like the Triton and fleet queens like the DMax.

What I love is this was the Tasman concept:



And this is what we ended up with:



The comments from the Kia General Manager are hilarious:

Roland Rivero, general manager of product planning for Kia Australia, said “the keyboard warriors have been busy since the reveal”.

“Arguably though they haven’t seen the car,” he said.

We've seen the car, its ****ing ugly, do you even have eyes or are they painted on?

“General feedback has been very positive.”

Dennis Piccoli, chief operating officer of Kia Australia said the reaction from previews offered to Kia dealers were positive, and that fleet managers who were “not as sensitive to exterior design” also responded well to the car.

There you go, fleet queen.

https://www.news.com.au/technology/m...aeb258ef9411d2

The only competition I see this thing presenting is on fleet specials, might get some buy in at the corporate level, but then its attempting to compete with Toyota, who has a hell of a lot better spares and aftersales coverage.

Isuzu DMax competitor at best I reckon.

[Charliewool]

Can’t compare to our original Tasman!
https://www.justcars.com.au/cars-for...-ii/JCM3381524

[Dr Smith]

it's just a flesh wound...every other car maker must be laughing thinking we dodged a bullet while the local Kia staff have all booked counselling sessions to help deal with trauma.
Would potential buyers be considered fish-bums or blind?

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by Charliewool

Can’t compare to our original Tasman!
https://www.justcars.com.au/cars-for...-ii/JCM3381524

Apt comparison - British cars are the red headed step children of the automotive industry, just like how the Kia Tasman is the red headed step child of the Thailand Specials

[Citroënbender]

I suppose they had to call it the Tasman; “Kia Kimberley” sounds like either a children’s cartoon character or a porn star.

A positive missed by whynot is the choice of a more local sounding name - none of the usual aspirations to Americana. Although the marketing imagery shown here is very pseudo-American down to the vest, Stetson type hat and oversized barn.

[whynot]

I think a lot of the criticism here is premature because; A) we haven't seen it in the flesh and B) Bradley tank urban assault vehicle shape is the new hotness (not my cup of tea, but still)

As a contrast, this is what Edmunds (USA) had to say about the photos;

Looks weird, but we dig it
The exterior design is obviously the Tasman's most polarizing attribute; we can't tell if we love it or hate it, but we definitely know we need to see more. The whole thing looks to have been designed with a ruler — no curves allowed. But this also gives the Tasman a purposeful look. Seriously, how cool is that base work truck on steelies?

https://www.edmunds.com/car-news/202...irst-look.html

And this is what Car & Driver (USA) had to say

Will it ever reach the truck-hungry shores of the U.S.? That remains to be seen, but the Tasman sure looks like it would fit right in.

As for lack of dealer network, yadda, yadda, yadda ... you are never going to detach rusted on Toyota buyers from their vehicles in the short or medium term. Why even waste effort in trying? Heck, most Toyota buyers think the Ranger/Everest is a soft toy for cashed up city folk who never leave the bitumen.

I suspect the strategy from Kia is to go after government fleets and city folk who are attracted to the Kia brand. Unlike Ford, who don't have a small car range, or a hot hatch range, the Tasman will be the first port of call for folk who have a prior good experience with the Kia brand. It looks boxy, so it must be a "tough" vehicle. Yummy Mums would be OK with the looks, as it appears to offer a tougher bubble around their precious cargo.

I can see a method in the madness here. I suspect quite a bit of thought as gone into the Tasman, including how some will react.

As Oscar Wilde’s once said: “There’s only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.” I think the shape of the vehicle agrees with that statement.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by whynot

As Oscar Wilde’s once said: “There’s only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.” I think the shape of the vehicle agrees with that statement.

Ford AU Falcon was a $700 million flop | Drive Flashback

Ford’s edgy AU Falcon didn’t exactly endear itself to the buying public.

Derided for its droopy design and questionable styling, the original AU lasted just 18 months before Ford hurried through a heavily revamped AU Series II which addressed some of the criticisms levelled at the original car.

Twenty-five years on and the AU Falcon meanwhile has slowly gathered an army of fans. Facebook appreciation pages and online forums abound, their communities championing the bastard child of the Falcon lineage. A modern cult classic if ever there was one.

https://www.drive.com.au/caradvice/f...ive-flashback/

The VT Commodore isn't exactly a looker either but it sold a shitload more than the AU Falcon and its controversial looks, even though the AU is the technologically superior car by far,

You can be good but if you look like a hat full of assholes, thats the thing people are going to remember, and there's an article 20 years after the fact stating it as 'the bastard child of the Falcon lineage'.

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by whynot

Bradley tank urban assault vehicle shape is the new hotness

And still fitted with the mighty Cummins VT903.

[prydey]

The vertical grill is very jeep... The square guards and stance has a hint of Hummer (humvee). If there was a couple of different brands you wanted to steal styling cues from, I'm pretty sure those 2 wouldn't be them.

Just like the first bt50, if you fit a bull bar it's a slight improvement. If you option it with tray instead of ute body, it's another minor improvement but it's still ugly. There's just no escaping that.

I guess it will be instantly recognised.

[CyberWasp]

I love Spin

"General feedback has been very positive"

Translation - Everybody positively hates it, except for 1 of 2 people out of all of the comments we could find.