![]() With a larger engine than other markets offered to meet American tastes, unforeseen issues with heat buildup could cause fires and resulted in several recalls. With the engine under the passenger compartment, one is reminded of the situation when Nissan imported its cabover van (creatively called the “Nissan Van”). Combine that with the fact that the even the largest available motors aren’t powerful enough to hold 70 up a grade, and it just doesn’t work stateside. The Bongo was never a machine that made sense for North America, particularly in that it’s a bit too small to act as a commercial vehicle and rather unsuited to passenger use. ![]() ![]() Maybe they want to test the waters with the whole cabover thing with a limited investment before committing to a totally clean sheet of paper vehicle. Let’s say there’s an alternate reality where, as a designer, Kia is asking you to make the Bongo into a semi-valid small-to-mid sized truck entry in the U.S. What if I want something different in my little pickup? Can at least one manufacturer offer something that is a bit outside the box? (Though I realize unibody pickups are still new and novel still, let’s switch some things up even further!). It’ll be something non-enthusiasts put on a list of three trucks to look at as they head out on a Saturday morning to showrooms see who will give them the best deal. More than likely, a small Kia pickup would be a reasonably competitive truck that would fit right in line to be cross shopped with the Maverick and other similar offerings that appear on the pages of Consumer Reports. Of course it’s expected that the real midsize truck Kia will release is going to be quite conventional something like a bigger Hyundai Santa Cruz, since Kia and Hyundai fall under the same corporate umbrella (It would be cool if the short-lived Kia Borrego mid sized SUV came back with the rear chopped off, but that’s not likely). Jokingly, the staff asked if this would indeed be the basis for their upcoming new mid-sized truck. ![]() In back there’s a very industrial bed (though, naturally, different rear boxes are available): It’s even available as a four door “double cab” (these images are a few years old, but trust me, the new ones are essentially the same): Kia The oddly-named Kia Bongo truck has been produced since 1980 it’s a a small pickup in the cabover layout that’s always been quite popular in Asia: Kia Stellantis, FordĪctually, Kia has already been there in some respects the brand has over forty years of experience in making small-to-mid sized pickups, but they aren’t what you would expect. So it makes sense for Kia to jump in on the fun. Little pickups are a hot market segment right now the Ford Maverick is selling well, RAM has shown teasers of a small pickup, and there’s an upcoming Toyota small truck (allegedly called the Stout). Upon hearing this news, the writers threw out some odd scenarios, one of which I couldn’t help but run with. This attitude came to mind a few weeks back when we heard that the company sometimes referred to as KN Motors was going to release a pickup truck. ![]() Another edict set by the great Jason Torchinsky: Do not be afraid to look at the absurd. Any site can regurgitate a press release from the manufacturer of a new car the Autopian offers deeper dives and more extensive nerd-level examinations of the design and engineering details. What makes this such a spectacular website? Much of it comes down to the staffers commitment to looking at things from a different perspective. ![]()
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