Kia Carens becomes more expensive; Price hiked by upto Rs 70,000

The Kia Carens made a grand debut in India in February 2022 at a shocking introductory starting price of Rs 8.99 lakh, which indeed grabbed headlines all over. The prices during the launch, however, were introductory, and citing the huge demand for the Carens, Kia has silently increased the prices of the three-row utility vehicle. The new Kia Carens now start at Rs 9.60 lakh for the base-spec Premium variant, thereby witnessing a price hike of Rs 60,000.

And that’s not all – the prices of the rest of the variants have gone up too. While the Prestige variants are now dearer by Rs 70,000, the prices of Prestige Plus variants have increased by Rs 40,000. The top two variants, Luxury and Luxury Plus, are now more expensive by Rs 30,000 and Rs 35,000 respectively. With this, the new range of Kia Carens now tops at Rs 16.54 lakh.

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2022 Kia Carens

The Carens is the latest offering from Kia in India and is a three-row vehicle primarily introduced for people looking for six and seven-seater passenger vehicles. Targeted at MPVs like Maruti Suzuki Ertiga, Maruti Suzuki XL6 and Mahindra Marazzo, the Kia Carens also competes with similarly priced entry-level variants of bigger SUVs like MG Hector Plus, Tata Safari and Hyundai Alcazar.

Based on the modified K2 platform, which also underpins other vehicles like Hyundai Creta, Hyundai Alcazar and Kia Seltos, the new Kia Carens is available with three engine options – two petrol and one diesel. A 1.5-litre naturally-aspirated petrol engine is available in Premium and Prestige variants, which produces 115 PS of maximum power and 144 Nm of maximum torque and is offered with a 6-speed manual gearbox as standard.

The 1.4-litre turbocharged petrol engine, which is available in all variants except base-spec, claims 140 PS of power and 242 Nm of torque and is offered with both 6-speed manual and 7-speed dual-clutch automatic transmissions. There is also a 1.5-litre diesel engine, which is available with both 6-speed manual and 6-speed automatic transmissions and produces 115 PS of power and 250 Nm of torque.

In its top-spec Luxury Plus avatar, the Kia Carens has a host of premium features like all-LED headlamps, tail lamps and fog lamps, 16-inch machined alloy wheels, single-pane sunroof, ventilated front seats, wireless charger, air purifier, 10.25-inch touchscreen infotainment system, fully-digital instrument console and premium 8-speaker audio system from BOSE. The Carens also created a benchmark by becoming the first-ever vehicle in its category to offer six airbags as standard across the range.