Kia Tasman won’t need AdBlue in Australia

The Australian-market Kia Tasman ute is being built to meet less stringent emissions standards than its home-market counterpart.

That’s despite Australia introducing tougher emissions regulations with the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES), which comes into effect on January 1, 2025 with penalties following on July 1, 2025 for brands that don’t meet their CO2 target.

“The Korean domestic market does have a strong CO2 regulation, and that’s why they’re going to have Euro 6 as a starting point with AdBlue,” Kia Australia product planning general manager Roland Rivero told CarExpert.

“We don’t need to do that, we can start off at Euro 5 without the need for AdBlue.”

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AdBlue is an aqueous urea fluid that converts noxious nitrogen oxide (NOx) into nitrogen, water, and tiny amounts of carbon dioxide in the exhaust chamber.

NOx is a particulate emitted in more significant amounts by diesel engines than petrol engines.

AdBlue is stored in a small tank and must be kept topped up by the driver. For example, Ford says the fluid typically lasts for between 12,000km and 16,000km of normal driving for its Everest.

While there are various vehicles in Australia that require AdBlue, few are utes besides the Mitsubishi Triton.

The Ford Ranger Wildtrak X and Tremor also met Euro 6 emissions standards and therefore required AdBlue too, while all other Australian-market Rangers only meet Euro 5 standards and don’t need the fluid.

The Ranger isn’t the only vehicle that in other markets requires AdBlue.

The KGM SsangYong Musso does without AdBlue in Australia, which also means it foregoes a more powerful tune of its turbo-diesel engine.

The Korean brand says it didn’t upgrade to the new tune as the need for a separate AdBlue tank meant it could no longer offer a full-sized spare wheel.

MORE: Everything Kia Tasman