The updated Kia Carnival has now made it to our shores with completely new looks, which resemble the Kia EV9 electric SUV.
The new Kia Carnival is here, with prices starting from Rs 63.90 lakh (ex-showroom). It is offered in only one variant. The last generation Kia Carnival was priced between Rs 24.95 lakh to Rs 34.99 lakh (ex-showroom), the new Carnival’s price puts it on a segment above, which may dampen some of the enthusiasm—there’s already been 2,796 bookings for the new Kia Carnival. To put it into perspective, the maximum number of Kia Carnivals sold in a year in India is 3,350.
The looks of the car is all-new, with Kia’s Design 2.0 language the Carnival masquerades successfully as an SUV instead of an MPV, which is what most people would prefer. There is a distinct resemblance to the Kia EV9 electric SUV which was also launched today. The visual updates encompass the grille, headlights, tail lights, wheels, and lower body panels.
While the new looks of the updated Kia Carnival are definitely going to be a talking point, there are a lot of changes on the inside as well. The centre console has been revised, and the climate control panel sits separately on the dashboard rather than integrated into the centre console. The infotainment system gets Kia’s latest interface with a more capable voice-assistant. The second-row seats get ventilation as well, and there’s a 12-speaker Bose audio system. It gets three-zone automatic climate control and dual 12.3-inch panoramic displays.
The new Kia Carnival continues to be powered by the same 2.2-litre, four-cylinder, turbocharged diesel engine, which churns out a handy 441 Nm of torque and 193 hp peak power. Drive goes to the front wheels via an eight-speed automatic transmission. For safety, there’s Level-2 ADAS and eight aribags.
The Kia Carnival is the one of the most popular MPVs in the US, where it competes with the Toyota Sienna and the Honda Odyssey, but it is unlikely they will ever reach India, so the main rival of the Kia Carnival here will be a three-row SUV in the same price bracket—the Land Rover Discovery Sport.
