In case you haven't heard, South Korean carmaker Kia is hard at work developing a rugged body-on-frame pickup truck to take the fight to the likes of the Ford Ranger, although unfortunately, it's not expected to land in the US market. For now, it seems the midsize Kia truck will be aimed primarily at Australia, which saw a mass exodus of cool, exciting vehicles a few years back when Ford, GM, and Toyota pulled up stakes and terminated their respective Australian production operations.

That's a bummer for us here in the US. But on the other hand, maybe Kia will see fit to introduce a different sort of truck in this market - perhaps a "lifestyle" truck based on a smooth-riding unibody chassis, à la Honda Ridgeline.

Enter the Kia Seltos. Designer Kleber Silva of Brazil recently reimagined Kia's hot new compact crossover as a practical, cosmopolitan lifestyle truck fit for US consumption, with four doors, a generous cabin, and a short pickup bed perfect for hauling your average-sized Ikea furniture piece. The C-pillar is all-new, but otherwise, most everything present - from the grille, to the headlights and taillamps, to the front and rear skid plates - has been borrowed straight from the production Seltos.

Were Kia ever to produce a vehicle like this - and to be clear, there's no indication as of yet that the automaker views it as an option - it might just emerge into a market flush with competition. Both FCA and Ford are thought to be considering bringing unibody lifestyle trucks to the US.

Indeed, there are signs that Ford is planning on bringing something like its South American-market Fiesta-based Ford Courier to the US, although FCA has yet to give any real indication that the Fiat Strada/Ram 700 might follow suit. It's all enough to make us wonder: what's the holdup?