Kia Carnival MPV Will Be The Second Car in India; Launch in 2020

While the Kia Seltos SUV is an all-new model that had its world premiered in India in its concept form as the SP Concept; the Carnival MPV is an existing international model that is known as the Sedona or Grand Carnival in the offshore markets. However, for the Indian market, the model is expected to be called just as the Kia Carnival and is likely to drop its ‘Grand’ prefix.

The Kia Carnival is a premium MPV model that will be in the league of the likes of the highly established Toyota Innova Crysta. However, it is expected to be placed a notch above the iconic Innova in terms of size, premium quality as well as pricing. The Carnival is likely to come to India in 7-seater as well as 8-seater configuration options.

When the under the hood mechanical specifications are concerned, Kia comes in 2 powertrain options - 3.3 L Petrol and 2.2 L Diesel. However, the upcoming India-spec Kia Carnival would most probably pack in a 2.2 litre diesel engine that has the capability to churn out a max power output of 202 PS along with 440 Nm of top torque. In the international markets, the Grand Carnival is offered equipped with a sophisticated 8 speed automatic transmission as standard.

As the current generation Toyota Innova Crysta is already a very fine premium MPV model and is the ruler of its own kind for a very long time (as the Innova), it will be interesting to see how much more premium the Kia Carnival will be and if its pricing will suit the Indian car market.

The South Korean Grand Carnival is significantly larger than that of the Japanese Innova Crysta in almost all aspects, except height. 

The global Carnival also offers a more luxurious look and feel apart from additional space and comfort than the Innova. The Kia offering is also loaded to the brim with premium features including power sliding rear doors, three-zone climate control, 360-degree camera and many more plush equipments to charm the buyers, while it is to be seen how many of these international features make their way to the India-spec model. The Kia Carnival is based on a monocoque chassis and is expected to launch in Indian in the first half of 2020.

Kia is aiming for upto 60 per cent localisation for the manufacturing of its premium MPV to achieve an expected price range of Rs 22 lakh to Rs 30 lakh. While there are other MPVs available in India, the Innova Crysta will be the only rival to the Carnival as a premium offering at a similar price point.