The now discontinued third-gen Carnival will be replaced by the yet-to-be-revealed facelifted fourth-gen MPV.
Kia has pulled the plug on the Carnival MPV in India as the model has now been delisted from the carmaker’s website, and a quick check with our dealer sources have confirmed the same. Dealers, in fact, had already stopped taking fresh orders a while ago, and a handful of remaining unsold units of the MPV are available at very few outlets. The Carnival was Kia’s flagship model in India, and was locally assembled from CKD kits.
- Kia Carnival not on sale in India anymore
- Next-gen Carnival expected here by FY2025
- Kia to launch Seltos facelift by end-July
Kia Carnival discontinued in India
The third-gen Carnival was launched in India at the Auto Expo in February 2020. However, just a few months later, in June, the Korean automaker took the covers off the fourth-gen Carnival for international markets. Therefore, the Carnival that was selling in India for the past three years was already a generation older than the one sold elsewhere.
Kia was, still, keen to flesh out the outgoing, third-generation model for India. The Carnival was launched just at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, which is why sales were slow to pick up, but the company had plans to increase localization levels once it gained momentum. Moreover, the third-gen model, which made its global debut back in 2014, still packed in everything that discerning customers in India would come to expect from a car in this class.
However, with the MPV seeing a full model change globally, it was only a matter of time before the third-gen Carnival was taken off the shelves in India. The final nail in the coffin is likely to be the BS6 Phase 2 emission norms that came into effect in April this year. While Kia did update the Seltos, Sonet and Carens to meet the stricter emission norms, the 2.2-litre diesel engine was not meted the same treatment for a low volume product.
With prices starting from Rs 30.99 lakh (ex-showroom), the Carnival was pretty much uncontested, with only the higher variants of the Innova Hycross being a reasonable match. However, with this now discontinued, the premium MPV segment is all for Toyota to dominate with the Innova Crysta and Hycross, with the more expensive Vellfire positioned at the absolute premium end of the market.
Fourth-gen Carnival expected to arrive in 2024
Kia showcased the fourth-gen Carnival as the KA4 MPV at the Auto Expo earlier this year. The name Carnival was not used as the brand did not want to confuse Indian customers with the third-gen Carnival being on sale at that time.
The fourth-gen Carnival (KA4) was earlier showcased at this year’s Auto Expo.
Notably, the fourth-gen model, too, has already been around globally for three years now, and Kia has already started work on mid-lifecycle update that’s expected to debut early next year. It is this facelifted, fourth-gen model that will be brought to India, meaning India and other markets will be in sync this time with the product lifecycle.
A facelift for the fourth-gen Carnival has already been spied on test overseas.
The fourth-gen Carnival is a lot larger and more luxuriously appointed than the outgoing model, and the facelift can be expected to improve still. It’s even touted to receive a new petrol-hybrid powertrain in markets abroad, and while it remains to be seen what makes it to India, it will surely come with a mark-up in price. You can read more about that here.
Upcoming Kia launches in India
Until the next-gen Carnival’s expected arrival in FY2025, Kia India has its hands quite full. The carmaker will be unveiling the mid-lifecycle facelift for Seltos SUV on July 4, following which it will go on sale by the end of the month. Kia is also working on a facelift for the Sonet compact SUV which is expected to debut early next year. You can read more about it here.
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