After the resounding success of its first offering—the Seltos—in India, Kia Motors on Wednesday launched the Kia Carnival at the Auto Expo 2020 in Noida. The multi-utility vehicle, which already has more than 3,500 bookings in India, comes at a starting price of ₹24.95 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi), and goes up to ₹33.95 lakh.
The South Korean automaker says the Carnival represents a leap up from the Seltos, into a premium, aspirational segment.
“When Kia launched in India two years ago, we came here to win the hearts of Indian customers. Today, I can say that our approach—to do more than simply build and sell great cars here—is bearing fruit. We have sought to understand Indian customers’ aspirations, and match them with best-in-class products and services. Our latest vehicle, the Kia Carnival, is a clear example of this approach,” said Kookhyun Shim, managing director and CEO, Kia Motors India, said.
“We continue to strengthen our role as a global brand, and our success in recent years has been a result of our unique future-centric approach to innovation. As the Indian market evolves, we will continue to offer customers here the best and the most innovative products and services.”
The Carnival is competing against the segment bestseller, the Toyota Innova Crysta, and comes with its signature ‘tiger-nose’ grille and wrap-around LED projection headlamps. This will mark the brand’s foray into the luxury segment with connected features like electric sunroof, dual touchscreen rear-seat entertainment, Smart Power Tailgate, and certain features that can also be accessed via smartwatches.
In addition to the Carnival, Kia Motors also unveiled the Sonet concept—for the first time globally. When it comes to looks, in addition to the signature ‘tiger-nose’ grille, this one also gets a stepwell geometry within the grille mesh, ‘tiger-eyeline’ daytime running lights, and wide rear signature lighting.
“Inside, Sonet is made for the young, social, connected, tech-savvy Indian. It previews a future compact SUV,” the company said. The Sonet is due to launch in India in the second half of 2020.
Other products from the Kia Motors stable at the expo include the Seltos X-Line Concept, Soul EV, Niro EV, XCeed, and the Stonic.
