Kia Motors India recently made headlines after its debut product, the Seltos compact SUV crossed the 40,000 bookings mark in just a month after its launch. To let you know, Kia registered around 6,000 bookings for the Seltos on the very first day of commencement of its bookings. Now, the South Korean manufacturer is looking forward towards launching its second vehicle in India, which in all likeliness will be the Carnival MPV. It has been spotted testing on our soil a lot of times till date and now the automaker has revealed its launch date.
During an interview with ET Auto, Manohar Bhatt, National Head, Sales & Marketing, Kia Motors India, said:
“You can expect our next vehicle during the upcoming Auto Expo in January. It could be an MPV. We are looking very closely at that, it will be tailor-made suiting that segment customers.”
The 2020 New Delhi Auto Expo is scheduled to start by the end of the first week in February, so that’s exactly when the Carnival will be launched. Not only this, but Bhatt also shared that Kia will introduce one product every six months. The future plan of the manufacturer is to launch up to 5 new cars in the Indian market that will be positioned in different segments and price ranges. Apart from the Seltos and the Carnival, the upcoming cars could be the Telluride and Sorento (SUVs), Soul & Niro (EVs and hybrids), and the Stinger sedan, though they are not confirmed yet.
Talking about the upcoming Kia Carnival, the large MPV will chiefly rival the Toyota Innova Crysta but will sit a bit higher than it in terms of pricing. Compared to the Innova Crysta, the Carnival will also be bigger in size and comes with sliding rear doors. Internationally, the Carnival is available with several seating options including a 7-seater, 8-seater, 9-seater and 11-seater version. However, the Indian market is expected to get only the 7-seater version with captain seats in the middle
The interiors will be pretty well laid out and the Carnival that will be launched in India will probably be a facelifted version of the MPV. This is because Kia earlier said that India will only get all-new models or facelifts models. The international spec Carnival gets a ton of features including a touchscreen infotainment system with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, multi-zone climate control along with safety features like ABS+ESP, traction control, hillside assist, rear parking sensors, a rearview camera, dusk-sensing headlamps, lane departure warning, auto emergency braking and forward-collision warning etc. As for the engine options on the Indian spec Carnival, it could be powered by an R 2.2 E-VGT diesel engine that puts out 199 Bhp of power at 3,800 rpm along with 441 Nm of torque at 1,750-2,750 rpm. This engine will be mated to a six-speed automatic transmission.
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