Kia Carens Completes Its First Year In India: A CD Recap

The MPV has become one of India’s top premium offerings with nearly 77,000 units sold in its first year

It is no small feat for Kia to become one of India’s top five automotive brands after launching its first model for the market in 2019 with the Seltos SUV. In February 2022, Kia entered the mass-market MPV space with the Carens and it has been a very well-received model in its first year of sales.

Here’s a recap of everything that’s changed with the Carens in the past 12 months:

Prices

The Carens is a premium offering but it arrived with aggressively low introductory prices. Now, the prices, including the third hike at the start of 2023, are more indicative of the MPV’s market positioning - above the Maruti XL6 and below the Toyota Innova. Here’s the variant-wise change in prices since launch:

Petrol

# -  This is the price for the six-seater layout and the seven-seat version costs an extra Rs 5,000.

All prices are ex-showroom Delhi

Expectedly, the biggest price jump has been for the entry-level trims at over a lakh, and the highest for the Prestige 1.5 petrol-manual at Rs 1.41 lakh. The smallest increment has been observed for the entry-level 1.4-litre turbo-petrol trim at just Rs 56,000. 

Diesel

# -  This is the price for the six-seater layout and the seven-seat version costs an extra Rs 5,000.

All prices are ex-showroom Delhi

The price hike for the Carens with the 1.5-litre diesel engine has been higher than the petrol version. All variants have gotten dearer by over a lakh with the least premium on the base option. The highest price jump is for the top-spec diesel-automatic variant, tied with the one-above-base petrol-manual variant, at Rs 1.41 lakh.

Unimpressive Safety Results

Even though the Carens was the first mass-market model in India to offer six airbags as standard, its performance in the Global NCAP crash tests was underwhelming. The MPV secured a three-star safety rating overall, faring worse than the Renault Triber, and this was before the testing protocol was updated to be even more stringent. The key reason for this unexpectedly low score was the bodyshell integrity and footwell areas that were rated unstable.   

Recall

The Kia Carens only underwent one known recall since launch. It was in October over a reported concern about the airbag control module that could be fixed with a free software patch. It is not known exactly how many units were included in that recall.

No feature upgrades needed

Since the Kia Carens arrived as a fully-loaded feature-rich MPV, it has not received any updates in its first year. Even with the launch of improved versions of its rivals, the Carens is still the most premium offering in its niche. Kia has equipped it with features like electric tumble assist in the second row seats, a 10.25-inch infotainment touchscreen, 64-colour ambient lighting, and a 12.5-inch digital driver’s display. 

Also read: Top 10 Features Kia Carens Still Offers Over The 2022 Maruti XL6 And Ertiga

ICOTY Winner

Perhaps the biggest feather in the cap for the Kia Carens is that it was recently crowned the Indian Car Of The Year 2023 (for cars launched in 2022), beating the likes of the Mahindra Scorpio N and the Maruti Grand Vitara. 

Its popularity can be recognised through its sales performance too with 76,904 units, presently averaging over 5,000 units a month, which is a lot more than that of the Maruti XL6. In 2022 alone, the Carens registered 62,756 unit sales.

Expected Changes

The Carens shares its underpinnings with the Seltos SUV which is also yet to receive any major changes. Therefore, we don’t expect the Kia MPV to sport any big changes anytime soon, except maybe a replacement for its 1.4-litre turbo petrol engine as witnessed with its sibling brand, Hyundai. 

Related: Hyundai Gives Updated Alcazar Turbo-petrol Engine, Opens Bookings

We also hope that Kia introduces a special edition anniversary variant for the Carens with a special exterior finish, like it did with the Seltos and Sonet SUVs.

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