Kia's latest product for the Indian market, the three-row Carens, has gathered 50,000 bookings since the company opened the booking window on January 14, 2022. However, with that, the waiting periods for the Carens have also started stretching, going up to more than five months, in case of some variants.
The Carens was launched on February 15, with an aggressive starting price of Rs 8.99 lakh for the entry-level Premium variant, going upto Rs 16.99 lakh for the top-spec, Carens Luxury Plus diesel automatic trim. As we reported recently, Kia has already begun a third shift at its Ananthapur plant in Andhra Pradesh in order to boost production for India, and also for markets like Indonesia where the Carens is expected to see a launch sometime this month.
- Carens 1.5 petrol has the highest waiting period
- Carens diesel waiting period ranges from 18-21 weeks
- Carens 1.4T waiting period ranges from 13-23 weeks
Kia Carens: What do the waiting periods look like
Just like most mass-market products by Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and Kia, waiting periods for the Carens are also seeing a steady rise, according to a few dealers we spoke to. We have compiled a list of Carens variants that have the lowest and the highest waiting periods as of now. Do note that the waiting period is subject to change depending on parts supply, cancellation and other factors.
As reported by Kia, the Carens diesel has been in high demand right from the launch as its direct rival the Ertiga does not get a diesel engine anymore. All variants of the Carens diesel have a waiting period of around 20-21 weeks which translates to just under four months. This includes variants equipped with the six-speed manual or the six-speed automatic gearbox.
The Carens 1.4-turbo petrol has the lowest waiting period for some variants currently. The Luxury Plus variant can be delivered in under 14 weeks which translates to around three months. The Carens 1.4T Luxury has a waiting period of 16 weeks, while the Prestige, Luxury Plus DCT variants have five months-plus waiting period.
Coming to the Carens 1.5 petrol, this variant, according to the dealers, has the lowest demand and is also in the low priority list as far as production goes as Kia is currently focusing on clearing backlog of variants with higher waiting. The entry-level Carens 1.5 Premium can be delivered in around 32 weeks, while the 1.5 Prestige, at 49 weeks, has the highest waiting period among all the Kia Carens line-up, at most locations.
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