Kia has opened its premium innings in India by launching the Carnival MPV and EV9 SUV. They are priced at Rs 63.90 lakh and Rs 1.29 crore making the latter the South Korean automaker’s flagship car for India.
Kia Carnival
This is the fourth-generation Kia Carnival for the Indian market and sees a significant jump over the previous model both in terms of pricing and value proposition. The car is being brought in here via the SKD route and can be had in one fully loaded Limousine+ variant
Features for this car include a full LED light package, a 360-degree camera with side parking sensors, a six-seat layout with an electrically adjustable second row, level-2 ADAS and a power tailgate. The overall design has moved from MPV to a more SUV stance as is the demand from buyers.
The Carnival is being offered with one 2.2-litre diesel engine that produces 138bhp and 440Nm of torque. It's been paired with an eight-speed AT powering the front wheels.
Kia EV9
From big diesel SUV, we move to big electric SUV and this is Kia’s new flagship vehicle. It reveals the design direction that Kia is taking for its future cars. Some major design highlights include the digital tiger nose grille, 20-inch wheels, vertical tail lamps and pop-out door handles.
Surprisingly while the outside is unique, the cabin is standard Kia fare with many familiar bits both in terms of layout and elements. This is expected to help buyers transition easily from ICE Kia cars to Kia electric cars.
The India-spec EV9 is being offered in one fully-loaded GT-Line AWD variant. It has been fitted with a 99.8kWh battery pack offering a claimed range of 561km and a charging time of under 35 minutes for a 10-80 per cent charge. The EV9 is the second of four EVs that Kia has planned for India by 2027. A Carens EV will join the EV6 and EV9 in the second half of CY 2025 with one more budget EV in CY 2026.
