Kia Motors Corporation has revealed first images of the new 2021 Kia Carnival, the fourth generation of the brand’s flagship minivan. Released in Korean specification, the new Kia Carnival – sold in many markets worldwide as the Kia Sedona – has been designed to appeal to progressive young families, with a leading combination of innovation, flexibility, and style.
Dubbed a ‘Grand Utility Vehicle’, the new model boasts a design evolution for the Carnival. The fourth-generation model builds on its predecessors’ heritage with a more architectural sense of solidity and an upgraded appearance that draws on the overarching design ethos that links all of Kia’s cars design identity. Matched with highly detailed, futuristic details and SUV-inspired design elements, the new model brings a stronger, more stylish presence to the mid-sized MPV segment.
2021 Kia Carnival features a shorter front overhang, with the base of the A-pillar moved backwards to create a longer hood. Its increased wheelbase also contributes to greater space throughout the cabin, while giving the car a longer, slightly more athletic silhouette. The result is a side profile that reveals the Carnival’s more dynamic DNA.
This is emphasized by a simple yet bold character line which runs along the length of the car, linking the front and rear lamps. Beneath this clear line, the Carnival features a more prominent sense of volume to its bodywork, with bold wheel arches and sharp lines along the body giving it a more sculpted appearance.
2021 Kia Carnival features a unique ‘island roof’ design, with blacked-out A- and B-pillars supporting the body-colored roof. From the side, one of the new car’s stand-out features is an eye-catching new C-pillar signature design, inspired by that of the new Sorento. The chrome fin, which wraps beneath the tapered rear windows and extends towards the tailgate, is finished with a subtle diamond pattern that is also reflected throughout the inside of the car.
2021 Kia Carnival features a new ‘tiger face’ which extends across the width of the vehicle. This confident, more futuristic face seamlessly integrates lamps with Kia’s iconic ‘tiger-nose’ grille. Kia’s designers have dubbed this ‘symphonic architecture’, with the design of the front bringing together a range of detailed, technical features to create a sense of harmony and structural energy. The grille and lamps are defined by their high-tech, high-precision details, with chrome trim above the grille and forming its own character line around the face of the car. The castellated edge of the upper grille is paired with perpendicular creases which extend straight up the hood, creating a more purposeful look when viewed head-on.
The Carnival’s headlamps and LED daytime running lights (DRLs) form a unique light signature. The high-beam lamps are integrated into the corner of the tiger-nose grille, with the low-beam lamps sitting separately, at the outer edges of the front of the car. Between them, the DRLs wrap around the Carnival’s turn signal lamps, then plunge downwards, merging with the grille’s lower chrome border.
Beneath, the sculpted bumpers and lower air intake are matched with metallic trim and a black lower bumper, presenting the Carnival’s robust, SUV-inspired appearance. SUV-inspired design extends rearwards. At the rear, the Carnival boasts a wide, distinctive new design which uses full-width lines to emphasize the car’s sense of solidity
These lines include the sleek combination lamps, which echo the same details as the DRLs at the front of the car, integrated into a full-width light. The light bar connects visually to a sharp, sculpted line which extends downwards and wraps around the license plate.
Above the light bar is a chrome line, which started at the base of the new signature C-pillar and wraps around the base of the rear screen. Beneath the light bar, highlight lines extend across the tailgate to raise the visual center of gravity of the rear of the car. Further enhancing its SUV-inspired design, the Carnival is finished off with a metallic lower skid plate, elevating the car further and giving it a more robust appearance.
The interior of the fourth-generation 2021 Kia Carnival represents an increase in quality and design over its predecessor, with a futuristic new cabin for the 2020s. The high-tech ambiance is most obvious in its wide, wrap-around dashboard, with a high fascia that is elegant in its simplicity and cutting-edge in the array of features it offers. The dashboard seamlessly integrates dual-screen infotainment technologies with haptic touch controls, placing the driver in command of their very own cockpit.
The dash itself is accented by high-tech two digital displays all under one piece of glass, linking Kia’s latest 12.3-inch digital driver instrument cluster and 12.3-inch touchscreen infotainment and navigation system. This display provides a wide variety of useful information across its 12.3-inch split screens. Many infotainment functions can be controlled using touch-sensitive buttons around the screen, with a similar panel further down the center console for the climate control system. A shift-by-wire dial for the transmission at the base of the center console further expresses the new Carnival’s sense of technology and modernity.
2021 Kia Carnival boasts intelligent interior packaging and cabin storage areas in abundance. The Carnival’s 22-year heritage is one of spaciousness and versatility, and the new model takes this to the max, based on the ‘Spatial Talents’ interior design concept created by Kia’s design teams.
The fourth-generation Carnival benefits from a longer wheelbase, a longer rear overhang, and a wider body. The result is more interior space for passengers in all three or four rows. Depending on market, the Carnival offers owners three- or four-row seating configurations, with space for 7, 9 or 11 occupants in total. In its popular 7-seat configuration, the Carnival boasts Kia’s reclining ‘captain’s chairs’ for second-row occupants, with adjustable backrests, armrests and legrests providing ‘business class’ seating for comfort on long journeys.
2021 Kia Carnival excels at providing practical storage options for occupants, with a range of new features for stowing, supporting and even charging electronic devices and smaller items. Second-row occupants have access to back-of-seat USB chargers, storage nets for mobile devices, and a new storage drawer in the base of the rear console, with a tray for storing tablets or phones above a larger storage area.
Furthermore, the Carnival’s 30 mm longer wheelbase (up to 3,090 mm) and 10 mm wider body (up to 1,995 mm) further enhances utility for families and professionals. The overall length of the new Carnival grows by 40 mm to 5,155 mm, with a 30 mm longer rear overhang (up to 1,130 mm), creating more space for third-row passengers and best-in-class luggage space with it.
2021 Kia Carnival is due on-sale in Korea later in the third quarter of 2020, with global sales in many of Kia’s markets to follow thereafter. More product details will be released soon.
