Finally, it is confirmed that the second car of Kia for India will be the Carnival MPV. The car will be launched in early 2020, which means that the brand is planning to showcase a mildly facelifted version of the ‘Carnival’ at the Auto Expo in February next year. The Carnival is also known as Sedona in some of the international markets.
If we go by the looks of the car, it looks huge and is surely a premium alternative to the Toyota Innova Crysta. Kia claims that the Carnival will sit a half-segment or a segment above the Toyota. If we compare the size of the car with the Innova Crysta, it is significantly longer by 380mm in length while the Kia MPV is also wider by 155mm. One can estimate by the fact that the Kia Carnival is so big on the inside that it can be configured as a seven-seat, eight-seat and even an 11-seat MPV.
Talking about the exterior dimensions, here also the Carnival MPV has an edge over the other cars in its segment. It measures 5115mm in length, 1985mm in width, and 1740mm in height. The wheelbase of the upcoming MPV is 3060mm, which is over three meters and hence marks this car longer than the Innova Crysta.
The MPV by Kia is built on a front-wheel-drive platform, whereas the Innova is built on a rear-wheel-drive frame. The dimensions of the Carnival clearly shows that it is comparatively more space-efficient. Though we will have to wait to see what comfort and convenience features will company have on offer for the Indian market.
If we see mechanically, we can expect the car to come with a 2.2-litre four-cylinder turbocharged diesel engine, which would be good enough to produce 202HP of maximum power at 3800 rpm with 441Nm of peak torque at 1750-2750 rpm.
A 6-speed automatic transmission is expected to be on offer along with an option for a 6-speed manual gearbox. Looking at all the details that we know about this car, we can expect the Carnival MPV to get a starting price tag of around INR 25 lakh (ex-showroom). So, it would be interesting to see how this car will perform in the market against its focused rival, the Toyota Innova Crysta.