Kia India has announced that the new Carens 3-row MPV has received over 50,000 bookings in less 2 months. The company had opened the bookings for the MPV on January 14, 2022. The new Kia Carens was launched on February 15, 2022. It is available in 5 trim levels – Premium, Prestige, Prestige Plus, Luxury and Luxury Plus.
The Kia Carens petrol version is priced between Rs 8.99 lakh and Rs 16.99 lakh, while the diesel model is tagged at Rs 10.99 lakh for base variant and Rs 16.99 lakh for the top-end variant. The company claims that 60 percent of the bookings came from Tier 1 and 2 cities. Last month, Kia sold 5,300 units of the Carens MPV in just 13 days of its launch.
The top-spec Luruxy and Luxury Plus variants are popular choice among customers, contributing around 45 percent of the total bookings. The company said that the demand for the petrol and diesel variant of the Carens is balanced. Customers are preferring close to 50 percent of the diesel variants of the Kia Carens. Also, automatic variant of the MPV commands close to 30 percent of the total bookings.
The new Kia Carens MPV is offered in 3 engine options – a 1.5-litre NA petrol, a 1.5L turbo-diesel and a 1.4L turbocharged petrol. The naturally-aspirated petrol engine is good for 113bhp and 144Nm of torque, while the turbo-diesel engine produces 113bhp and 250Nm of torque. The turbo-charged petrol engine is capable of producing 138bhp and 242Nm of torque. Transmission choices include a 6-speed manual, a 6-speed torque convertor automatic with 1.5L diesel and a 7-speed DCT with 1.4L.
Speaking on this milestone, Myung-Sik Sohn, Chief Sales Officer, Kia India said, “This response for the Carens has created a never before excitement in family mover segment and it matches the excitement that our other SUVs have generated, and it is very encouraging. The Indian automotive industry is going through a tough phase as we face an acute shortage of semiconductors, hampering our production and hence the supply to the market. However, we hope that the shortage of chips will start improving from Q2 onwards. To curb the long delivery period on our cars, we have started the third shift at our Anantapur manufacturing facility from March 2022. We are proud that our customers’ trust remains undeterred in these challenging times, helping us carve a niche in the Indian automotive market. We assure our patrons that we are working around the clock with our suppliers and partners to reduce the waiting period for the Carens and other models.”
