2027 KGM Musso: New-Generation Diesel Ute Reported for October in Australia, With No Price Yet

The Musso has been KGM's bread and butter in Australia for years: a Korean-built, body-on-frame dual-cab that tows 3,500kg, sells on price and warranty, and has never pretended to be anything fancier. A new one is coming. Australian motoring outlets reported in June and July 2026 that the next-generation Musso is due here in October 2026, and one of them reported that KGM itself had confirmed that timing.

Here is the catch, and it is the most useful thing we can tell you today. On 1 October 2026 we checked KGM Australia's website: the Musso model page, the offers page, the newsroom and the site map. None of them mentions the new Musso. The newsroom's most recent Musso items are a December 2025 award win, the separate Musso EV and the MY26 range update. There is no price, no specification, no register-your-interest page. So everything below about the new car is reported, not published by KGM Australia, and we have kept it apart from what KGM does publish.

What Has Been Reported for Australia

The detail comes from Australian government certification documents, as reported by CarExpert in June 2026. We have not been able to read those documents ourselves, so treat each line in this table as reported.

The same report says the new ute sits on an upgraded version of the current platform and appears to keep its doors and cabin structure, with new front and rear styling, and lists a safety and equipment set that includes adaptive cruise control, autonomous emergency braking, blind-spot assist, driver monitoring, lane-centring, rear cross-traffic assist, safe exit warning and a surround-view camera with a see-through chassis view. None of that is on KGM Australia's site yet, and which items are standard on which grade has not been reported, so do not budget on any of them.

You will also see bigger engine numbers quoted for this car. Those come from overseas: the new Musso has been reported on sale in Korea and launched in the UK, and the outputs reported for those markets are higher than the 133kW reported for Australia. Overseas specifications are not a guide to what KGM Australia will sell, and the Australian certification figure is the one that points to what lands here. We have left the overseas hardware out of this piece for that reason.

Against the Musso You Can Buy Today

The current MY26 Musso is still what KGM Australia sells, and it is the right yardstick. These are KGM's own figures from its Musso page and its MY26 specification sheet, both checked on 1 October 2026. KGM quotes drive-away prices and does not name a state or buyer type on the page.

KGM says each of those prices includes a Factory Bonus discount, which its offers page headlines as a $5,010 saving on MY26 Musso (the EV excluded). The terms are that it is available for a limited time and while stocks last, that stock varies between dealers, and that metallic paint is $700 extra. If the full $5,010 applies to the ELX, the ELX would be $42,500 drive-away without it. Keep that number in mind, because it is roughly where a like-for-like comparison with the new car will start once KGM prices it.

Put the two tables side by side and three things stand out. The engine is not the story: 133kW is exactly what KGM quotes for the current car. The payload is: the reported range of 903kg to 1,123kg sits above the current 790kg to 1,010kg at both ends, although nobody has yet reported which new variant carries which figure, so we cannot line them up grade by grade. And the range shape has flipped. Today the standard-length tub is the cheap ELX workhorse and the long XLV tub is how you get the higher grades. The reported new line-up does the opposite: the short-wheelbase body comes only as Advance and Ultimate, and the base and ELX grades are long-wheelbase only.

That last point matters more than it looks. The reported new lengths are 5,150mm for the short body and 5,460mm for the long one. The current car is 5,095mm to 5,105mm in standard form and 5,405mm to 5,415mm as an XLV. If the cheapest new Musso is long-wheelbase only, the entry ticket gets you a longer ute than today's ELX, which is good news for a tradie and less good news for anyone parking in a tight garage or a city car park.

The Seatbelt Nobody Talks About

One reported change deserves more attention than the new grille. KGM Australia's MY26 specification sheet lists the current Musso's rear centre seat with a lap seatbelt, while the outer rear belts are listed with pretensioners and load limiters. The new Musso is reported to get a lap-sash belt in the centre.

If your Musso is a work ute that seats two, this makes no difference. If it is the family car that also tows the van, and you regularly put three across the back, it is a real reason to look at the new one rather than a discounted old one. A lap-sash belt restrains the upper body as well as the hips, and it is what you would want for anyone sitting in that seat. Ask the dealer to show you the centre belt when the new car arrives, rather than taking the report on trust.

Towing: the Current Musso's Quiet Strength

Plenty of dual-cabs are rated to tow 3,500kg. Fewer let you use that rating with a loaded tray, because the gross combination mass, the maximum weight of ute and trailer together, is often less than the gross vehicle mass plus 3,500kg. The current Musso is not one of those. On KGM's MY26 sheet, every variant's GCM is exactly its GVM plus 3,500kg: 2,880kg plus 3,500kg gives the ELX's 6,380kg, 3,220kg plus 3,500kg gives the ELX XLV's 6,720kg, and 2,980kg plus 3,500kg gives the Advance and Ultimate XLV's 6,480kg.

In plain terms, on paper you can hitch a 3,500kg trailer and still load the ute to its GVM. The towball load (up to 350kg) still counts against payload, so a heavy van with a 350kg ball weight uses a big bite of the ELX's 790kg before anyone gets in. Try it with your own numbers below.

The calculator holds the outgoing MY26 Musso, with every figure taken from KGM Australia's specification sheet. The new Musso is not in it, because KGM Australia has not published its kerb weight, GVM, GCM or towball load. The reported 3,500kg towing and higher payloads are encouraging, but until the GCM is published nobody can tell you whether the new one keeps this full-GVM-while-towing trait. For a wider look at your whole rig, our TowingSorted planner does the same arithmetic with a caravan, boat or camper on the back.

What It Is Up Against

The new Musso is not on sale and we do not hold a row for it, so it is not in the comparison below. What is in it are the outgoing Musso ELX and the diesel dual-cabs a Musso buyer is most likely to be cross-shopping. Pick any two.

We quote prices here for the two rivals a Musso buyer is most likely to price it against. The GWM Cannon Lux is listed at $42,490 drive-away for private buyers in Victoria, with 135kW and 480Nm, 3,500kg braked towing and a 995kg payload on our figures. The Kia Tasman S 4x4 is $49,990 before on-road costs, which is not directly comparable with a drive-away price, with 154kW and 440Nm and a 1,025kg payload in our listing. The Tasman is also Korean, and it is the benchmark the new Musso will be measured against by a lot of buyers.

Among the six utes in that comparison, the Musso's 133kW is the lowest peak power figure we list (we hold no power figure for the Tunland), and the reported numbers say the new one will not change that. The Mitsubishi Triton GLX 4x4 is listed at 150kW, the LDV Terron 9 Origin at 163kW, and the Foton Tunland V7-C 4x4 at 450Nm. All five rivals are rated at 3,500kg braked on our figures, so towing will not separate the new Musso from the pack. Price and warranty will. For the Triton, Terron 9 and Tunland, the comparison shows the prices we currently list, and the Triton's has not yet been checked against Mitsubishi.

Warranty, Safety and Tax

Warranty. KGM Australia backs its current range, the Musso included, with a seven-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty that it says includes commercial use. For a ute that will spend its life on a work site, that commercial-use clause is often worth more than a few extra kilowatts. KGM Australia has not published warranty terms for the new Musso yet, so get them in writing before you sign.

ANCAP. We hold no ANCAP rating for any KGM Musso, and a new generation would need its own assessment. If a rating is a requirement for you, for a company fleet policy for example, check the ANCAP website before ordering rather than assuming one exists.

Tax. As general information for the 2026-27 financial year, the luxury car tax threshold for vehicles that are not fuel-efficient is $80,809, and every current Musso is well under it; nothing reported suggests the new one will come close. The electric car fringe benefits tax exemption does not apply to a diesel ute. Business buyers should ask their accountant how a dual-cab is treated for their own work use.

What KGM Australia Has Not Told Us Yet

• A launch date. October has been reported, but KGM Australia's own site does not mention the new Musso.
• Prices, for any grade, and whether KGM will again quote drive-away.
• Torque and fuel consumption. The current car makes 400Nm (420Nm with the XLV pack) and uses 8.6L/100km (9.0L/100km XLV) on KGM's figures.
• Kerb weight, GVM, GCM and towball load, which decide how the reported 3,500kg and payload figures work together.
• Which suspension goes where. The current ELX XLV uses a leaf-spring rear and the others use coils, per KGM's sheet. Nothing has been confirmed for the new car.
• Standard equipment by grade, warranty terms and an ANCAP rating.

Buy Now or Wait?

Buy the current one if you want a known price, a known spec sheet and a 3,500kg tow rating you can use with a loaded tray, and the rear seat is mostly for occasional passengers. The Factory Bonus is real money, but KGM says it is for a limited time and while stocks last, and stock varies between dealers, so if a dealer has the grade and colour you want, that is the moment to negotiate.

Wait if you regularly carry three in the back, if you want the extra payload that has been reported, or if a newer cabin and a broader safety list matter more than the discount. The trade-off is that you will be paying a price nobody has seen yet, for a car whose Australian specification KGM has not published. If the reported October timing holds, the wait should be short, and you will be able to compare the two directly.

It suits less well anyone who wanted a big jump in performance. On everything reported so far, the new Musso keeps the same 133kW, and every rival in our comparison for which we list a power figure makes more.

We will add the new Musso to the CarSorted directory with full specifications once KGM Australia publishes them, and current manufacturer offers are on our deals page.