New Kia Carnival sold out for nearly a year in India

The new Kia Carnival has gathered over 3,000 bookings, which is commendable considering prices for the MPV, which had launched less than 20 days ago, start at Rs 63.9 lakh (ex-showroom).  Sources tell us that waiting period for the new Carnival is close to 1 year.

1. Kia Carnival is available in a single fully-loaded variant in India
2. Only two exterior paint shades on offer
3. Kia India looking to increase Carnival production

Kia India gearing up for additional demand for Carnival

The Carnival is available in a single fully-loaded variant, with just two exterior paint shade options and just a single seven-seat seating layout. Kia India had anticipated a low-volume MPV in terms of sales, and wanted to keep the variant line-up simpler than the outgoing model. Almost 90 percent of the previous-gen Carnival's sales had been the top-end variant, finished in either the black or the white exterior paint shades.

Consumer response to the new Carnival has been surprising according to Kia India, considering the brand sold around 3,500 units of the previous-gen MPV during 2022. There is also the fact that the new Carnival‘s price is much higher than the outgoing model.

The Carnival is being assembled at Kia India’s plant in Ananthapur, AP from semi-knocked down (SKD) kits. At the moment, the Korean company can assemble around 300 units of the Carnival MPV every month. "Going by the bookings for the Carnival, which has not seen any cancellations even after the price announcement, we are now looking to increase production of the MPV and have requested the headquarters for more kits," said Hardeep S. Brar, the sales and marketing head at Kia Motors India.

At Rs 63.9 lakh (ex-showroom), the Carnival doesn't have any direct rival in India as it finds itself sandwiched between the Toyota Innova Hycross (Rs 19.77 lakh-30.98 lakh) at one end, and the Toyota Vellfire (Rs 1.22 crore-1.32 crore) at the other. The brand recently announced that deliveries to customers for the new Carnival have commenced in a phased manner.