KIA CARNIVAL – REDEFINING URBAN MOBILITY WITH A FOCUS ON COMFORT, SPACE & TECH

Kia Motors India, the newest entrant in the Indian passenger vehicle segment, has managed to captivate the Indian market with its initial offering, the Seltos compact SUV. And staying true to its promise of launching a car every six months, the South Korean auto major will be soon rolling out its flagship offering, the Kia Carnival. Does the Carnival have the wherewithal to captivate buyers and give Kia another winner in the market? We flew to the city of Nizams – Hyderabad – to test the new Kia Carnival across congested city streets and open stretches of highway. Here is what we made of it.

- Joshua David Luther

Essentially a multi-purpose vehicle (MPV), the Kia Carnival is likely to be positioned above the highly popular Toyota Innova Crysta, creating a new segment by offering consumers an additional body style option that is versatile, feature-loaded and packs a powerful performance. When you first set sight on the Kia Carnival, it’s the MPV’s massive footprint that is sure to impress you. To put things into perspective, the Kia Carnival is over five meters long and has a wheelbase that spans over three meters. Its dimensions are comparable to the upcoming Toyota Vellfire and Mercedes V Class, both of which are many times more expensive than the expected cost of the Carnival.

Compared to the Innova Crysta, the Carnival is 380 mm longer, 155 mm wider, but 40 mm shorter in height. The long wheelbase and immense width of the Kia Carnival have gone towards creating an extravagantly spacious cabin that will not fail to serve up generous amounts of room to kick back and relax, it is quite literally comparable to a living room on wheels. Luggage space in the Kia Carnival measures 5.40 l.

What makes the Carnival’s space a lot more liveable is the way Kia’s engineers have managed to optimise the interior seating and space distribution. Kia will offer 7/8/9-seat options on the Carnival, along with an additional seven-seat option that has 2nd row VIP seats. The seating layout has been designed to be as flexible as possible with seats that slide back and forth as well as sideways. The VIP seating option also gets a recline function with a leg rest for added comfort. In the nine-seat configuration, Kia is offering six captain seats and a three-seat last row bench. Kia has also designed unique stand-up seats that offer ease of ingress and egress.