Finance
Korean carmaker Kia is all set to announce the price of its latest model for India. Carens, Kia’s fourth product in the country after Seltos, Sonet and Carnival, will be officially launched on Tuesday after it was unveiled back in December last year.
Kia began production of the Carens, a three-row MPV or Recreational Vehicle (RV), at the Anantapur manufacturing facility in Andhra Pradesh earlier this year. The bookings started last month as the car started to reach dealerships since then.
Carens will be available in five variants, which include Premium, Prestige, Prestige Plus, Luxury, and Luxury Plus trims. The top-spec trim will be offered with features like a 10.25-inch main infotainment screen, wireless connectivity for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, 64-colour ambient lighting, air purifier, digital driver display and a sunroof, among others.
Kia Carens also gets LED headlamps, a fully-digital instrument cluster, an electric sunroof, a one-touch electric tumble function for the second-row seats, a wireless charger, an air purifier, as well as roof-mounted air condition vents as features.
Kia will offer Carens with three choices of engines and transmission units. These include a 1.5-litre naturally-aspirated petrol engine, a 1.4-litre turbo petrol engine and a 1.5-litre diesel engine. The transmission job will be handled by either a six-speed manual, a seven-speed DCT or a six-speed automatic gearbox.
For safety, the Carens MPV will use some industry-standard features such as a tyre pressure monitoring system, downhill brake control, six airbags, ABS, ESC, rear parking sensors, and disc brakes on all four wheels.
Kia is likely to price Carens somewhere between ₹14 lakh and ₹20 lakh (ex-showroom). The price bracket is likely to be similar with its technical cousin Hyundai Alcazar. When launched, Kia Carens will take on rivals such as Mahindra XUV700 and Tata Safari besides its Korean rival.
Source: ASTech
