Kia has revealed the pricing for its redesigned 2021 Carnival minivan, with price increases of over $3000 across the board.
As is typical for the company, Kia has also announced drive-away pricing for the new people mover.
Comparing list prices for the new, fourth-generation model to last year’s model, petrol models are now $3690 pricier than before while diesel pricing is up $3190 across the board.
Kia is continuing to offer the Carnival in four trim levels: S, Si, SLi and Platinum, all of which are available with a choice of petrol or diesel engines.
There’s a new naturally-aspirated 3.5-litre V6 engine producing 216kW of power and 355Nm of torque, which replaces last year’s 3.3-litre V6 and produces an extra 10kW and 19Nm.
The updated 2.2-litre turbo-diesel four-cylinder engine’s outputs, in contrast, are almost unchanged: 148kW of power and 440Nm of torque.
Both engines are mated an in-house eight-speed automatic transmission, while all Carnival models are front-wheel drive despite all-wheel drive being available in its redesigned Sorento platform-mate.
Underpinned by a new platform, the Carnival has a 3090mm wheelbase that’s 30mm longer than before, while the body is 10mm wider (1995mm), and 40mm longer (5155mm) overall, most of which is behind the rear axle to improve cargo space.
Kia has come a long way since the first-generation Carnival landed here in 1998 with a flaky Rover-sourced 2.5-litre V6 and without anti-lock brakes or a passenger’s airbag.
In that time, the Carnival has seen off the Toyota Tarago and leapt past the Honda Odyssey to become Australia’s best-selling people mover by far.
Through November of last year, the Carnival had 56 per cent share of the sub-$60k people mover segment, with the Odyssey a distant second at 15.7 per cent.
| Model | List price | Drive-away price |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 Kia Carnival S V6 | $46,880 | $50,390 |
| 2021 Kia Carnival S diesel | $48,880 | $52,390 |
| 2021 Kia Carnival Si V6 | $52,380 | $55,790 |
| 2021 Kia Carnival Si diesel | $54,380 | $57,790 |
| 2021 Kia Carnival SLi V6 | $56,880 | $60,290 |
| 2021 Kia Carnival SLi diesel | $58,880 | $62,290 |
| 2021 Kia Carnival Platinum V6 | $64,680 | $67,990 |
| 2021 Kia Carnival Platinum diesel | $66,680 | $69,990 |
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MORE: Kia Carnival news and reviews
