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The Kia Carnival is here in a facelifted avatar of the second generation (that we skipped in India), but this time, it is priced almost double the previous iteration. Does it have enough to make the price premium worth it? Read on to find out

- Dipayan Dutta

It should come as no surprise that Kia’s aspirations in the Indian sub-continent are not just for the mass market, the brand wants to take on the premium space. It isn’t easy to have an equally impactful perception in an image-conscious market like India. Our automotive history is littered with examples of brands who’ve tried to breach the premium space and have had to beat hasty retreats. But Kia seems to have considered these case studies before they’ve made any moves, choosing to play instead on the one factor that is perhaps more valuable to the Indian market than image, and that’s value.

But that too, was half perchance.

I don’t think Kia anticipated just how successful the Carnival would be when they brought the previous generation of the luxeMPV to India. But there’s no denying the inherent value that the first Carnival brought to the table. Now though with this facelifted version of the second generation of the Carnival that’s made it to India via the SKD route Kia is pushing the pricing and segment envelope that much more, almost doubling the asking price. Does it still have enough to be a success, we get in the driver’s seat and more importantly the second row to find out.