NO MATTER HOW STYLISH the exterior, the simple fact is that we spend more time inside a car, looking at the dashboard than we do standing outside admiring the lines.
A well-designed interior is a major factor affecting the purchase of one brand (or model) over another. And while the Koreans have been advancing in leaps and bounds with external design, they haven’t been sitting on their hands when it comes to interiors, as a quick look at any recent Hyundai, Kia, Genesis or even SsangYong will quickly demonstrate.
Ahead of the official launch, Kia Motors Corporation has revealed the interior of the new Kia Carnival showing the new vehicle in Korean specification.
Based on the interior design concept of ‘Spatial Talents’, the new Carnival – the brand’s fourth-generation flagship minivan and sold in many markets worldwide as the Kia Sedona – provides a spacious, comfortable and futuristic environment for young families. It is an impressive combination of innovation, flexibility and style, designed to satisfy both driver and passengers.
Like its predecessor, the Carnival boasts significant levels of space for passengers in all rows.
Designers have created a greater sense of roominess inside, combined with a renewed sense of modernity and style. The new Carnival provides passengers in all rows with a futuristic, relaxed space in which to spend journeys.
Futuristic, spacious, with high quality materials and innovative technology
The interior of the fourth-generation 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.
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 centre console for the climate control system.
A shift-by-wire dial for the transmission at the base of the centre console further demonstrates the new Carnival’s technology and modernity.
Intelligent packaging for three or four rows
The Carnival boasts intelligent interior packaging and cabin storage areas. The Carnival’s 22-year heritage is one of spaciousness and versatility, and the new model continues this, 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 seven, nine or 11 occupants.
In its popular seven-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.
The 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.
The Carnival’s 30mm longer wheelbase (up to 3090mm) and 10mm wider body (up to 1995 mm) enhances utility for families and professionals. The overall length of the new Carnival grows by 40mm to 5155mm, with a 30mm longer rear overhang (up to 1130mm), creating more space for third-row passengers and best-in-class luggage space with it.
More Carnival details to be revealed soon
The new Kia Carnival will go on-sale in Korea later in the third quarter of 2020, with global sales in many of Kia’s markets to follow thereafter. We will bring you more product details as they become available.