Kia is gearing up for a pretty big launch in the Indian market. They will launch the Carnival and the EV9, finally in the Indian market after quite a lot of wait. Here is everything you need to know.
Kia will be launching the Carnival and the EV9 electric SUV in the Indian market on October 3, 2024. The new has been one of the most awaited vehicles in the Indian market while the EV9 electric SUV will expands Kia’s EV portfolio offering customers a full size SUV in the EV space which has not had many options in recent times. Kia Carnival In India, we only got the previous generation of the Carnival while the rest of the world received an all new generation.
The new generation was also recently facelifted which made the older gen car feel even older than it already was. The new Carnival will feature a more boxier design and will also have a lot of features. It gets completely different interior and will also be offered with things like ADAS, and the upper variants could also offer lounge seating in the second row.
The Carnival really doesn’t have any competition in the Indian market. The Innova is a car which is placed a segment lower while the next minivan, the Toyota Vellfire is a full on luxury automobile which costs north of 1 crore (ex-showroom).The Carnival sits right in the sweet spot of the segment and offers all the luxuries of the Vellfire while feeling more upmarket than the Innova.
Internationally, the Carnival is offered with petrol, diesel and hybrid variants but we expect the Indian version to continue with the 2.2L diesel engine paired to an 8-speed torque converter automatic transmission. We would love to see the hybrid as well but that might increase the cost of the vehicle considerably.
There is news that Kia will bring the Carnival via the CBU route initially before making it a CKD model to reduce costs. Kia EV9 Electric SUV The Kia EV9 is the flagship electric SUV in Kia’s lineup and will accompany the EV6 GT offered currently. It will be a full size 7-seater vehicle.
Internationally the EV9 comes in either a single motor or a dual motor variant. The lower capacity version comes with a 76.1 kWh battery which gives it an estimated range of 370 kms while the bigger battery pack version is a 99.
8 kWh battery giving it an estimated range of 490 kms for the longer range variant with the lower power output and RWD. It also gets a very powerful AWD version which produces 380 bhp and 600 Nm of torque but it does loose on range and only has an estimated range of 434 kms. We don’t think the EV9 will come in so many variants in the Indian market but there should be a couple of options still.
The EV9 will be a complete CBU import and should cost more than Rs 1 crore (ex-showroom) in terms of pricing..
