Kia Carnival, facelift coming soon (Photo: manufacturer's website)
For several years now, persistent rumors have been surrounding Kia's Carnival. The best passenger carrier on the market right now (and we've driven them all: Honda Odyssey, Toyota Sienna and Chrysler Pacifica) has it all: spaciousness, comfort, fittings, safety, huge luggage compartment, usability, material quality. But he has one big problem - an unbridled thirst for fuel. 10 kilometers per liter in gasoline and 12 kilometers per liter in diesel - these are the numbers he revolves around.
Now, very soon he is going to improve on this point as well with a step that should have happened a long time ago. The facelift of the model, which is scheduled to be unveiled this year and enter production in early 2024, will offer a new propulsion version - hybrid.
The direction is that front, but with a grill of course (Photo: Kia)
Overall, this is a mid-life refresh for the model, which is the fourth generation Carnival. Externally, in illustrations and simulations based on spy photographs of him, the grille and lighting units appear to be different, including a transition of the headlights to a vertical structure similar to that carried by the electric EV9 at the front. There are also a series of minor cabin changes to the instrument cluster graphics, what looks like a head-up display, probably in the better equipped versions, and more.
According to South Korean media reports, the hybrid engine is the one found in the Sorrento and Sportage hybrids - a turbocharged 1.6-liter that, together with an electric unit, produces a combined 230 hp compared to 201 in Carnival Diesel and 272 in a petrol V6. The same 1.49 kWh battery will likely be used and it will be interesting to see how its location (in Sorrento is below the cabin) will affect the spaciousness at Carnival. What is not at all clear is whether the Carnival Hybrid will remain with an 8-speed transmission, or switch to 6 gears like the Sorento and Sportage.
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The hybrid engine will be the 1.6-litre turboelectric from the Sorento and Sportage (Photo: manufacturer's website)
As of today, Kia Carnival is pretty much the only minivan in the local market in regular marketing. Chrysler's Pacifica Semlat no longer brings it, and at the price at which it was marketed here, it didn't stand a real chance. The Sienna Hybrid is also very expensive and arrives, like the Honda Odyssey, which is excellent in parallel imports only - there too the prices are not very affordable, and this channel does not always appeal to everyone.
Telcar, Kia's importer to Israel, has confirmed that the Carnival facelift will be introduced in 2024, but they do not yet know when the arrival or supply of versions in Israel will be at this stage. If it arrives here, there is considerable potential for a very attractive package, but on one condition - today the price gap between the hybrid Sorento (NIS 270,247) and its gasoline engine counterpart (NIS 9,<>) is about <>%, which is more or less the gap in which to cost more, may be too much. So much of the chance of seeing him here and succeeding depends on being able to reduce that number.
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Tags
- Kia
- Carnival
- Minivan
- Hybrid
