Kia Motors India has teased the Carnival MPV before its official launch in the country. The company has also published some basic information about the MPV on its official website. This reveals that the launch of the Carnival MPV is just round the corner.
It is worth noting that the Kia Carnival is already on sale in various markets internationally. However, reports suggest that Kia will be making some tweaks to the MPV’s styling and equipment levels for the India-spec model. The sad part though is the fact that the Carnival will be brought in India as a CKD (completely knocked down) unit. As a result, it will demand a premium price tag, likely around the Rs. 30 lakh mark.
The current MPV market is dominated by the likes of the Maruti Ertiga, Mahindra Marazzo and Toyota Innova Crysta. However, the Kia Carnival won’t be competing against these crop. Instead, Kia will be positioning the Carnival as a premium MPV; a segment that hasn’t been explored by any manufacturer yet. Do note that the only other premium MPVs, namely the Toyota Vellfire and Mercedes V-Class are way too price as compared to the Kia Carnival.
In order to justify the premium price tag, Kia will equip the Carnival with many top-of-the-line features. These include captain seats with extendable leg rests, rear-seat entertainment system with 10.1-inch screens, two sunroofs, three-zone automatic climate control, and power sliding doors for the rear. The MPV will also come with advanced safety features as standard.
Another point that will differentiate the Carnival from other MPVs is its sheer size. The Kia MPV measures 5,115 mm in length, 1,985 mm in width and 1,740 mm in height. This makes it 380 mm longer and 155 mm wider than the Innova Crysta. As a result, it will make perfect sense for someone who is planning to upgrade a Innova Crysta and wants to stick to the MPV segment.
Kia is likely to plonk a BS6-compliant, 2.2-litre, four-cylinder, turbo-diesel engine that will churn out around 202 PS and 441 Nm of torque. Transmission options expected to be on offer include a 6-speed manual and a 6-speed automatic. It is worth noting that the Carnival gets an all wheel drive system in international markets. As a result, Kia India too is expected to bring the same for the India-spec model.
With the Carnival, Kia isn’t targetting to pull volume sales for its portfolio. That task has already been assigned to the Kia Seltos, which is doing exceedingly well in the Indian SUV market. Instead, the Kia Carnival is meant to cement the automaker’s position as a premium car manufacturer in the country. This will help in attracting more customers to the brand when a more mass market car is launched, sometime later next year.