[CentreOfGravity]

The Kia Carens facelift will reportedly be sold in India alongside the existing car. It is also likely to sport a new suffix in its name. Sources suggest that it will go on sale along with its EV version by mid-2025.

The Carens currently comes with a choice of three engines: a 1.5L NA petrol which produces 115 bhp and 144 Nm of torque, 1.5L turbo-petrol engine producing 158 bhp and 253 Nm of torque, and a 1.5L turbo-diesel engine which dishes out 115 bhp and 250 Nm of torque. Transmission choices include a 6MT, 6iMT, 6AT and 7DCT. The engines are expected to be carried over in the facelift.

Source: ZigWheels

The Kia Carens facelift is expected to be introduced with a new name, it will still be called the Carens, but will carry a suffix and the facelifted version will also get an electric iteration. In short, we can expect Kia to sell three different versions of the Carens by the second half of this year!

The facelifted version of the Carens will bring significant changes to the design of the MPV. One can expect a new grille, a new design for the alloy wheels and a slightly more muscular look. Not just in terms of design, the interior of the facelift will also receive major revisions. It is expected to get a new dashboard design and layout and a host of new features which will make it more premium and desirable. It is expected to get larger screens, front and rear ventilated seats, powered seats, dual-zone climate control, rear entertainment screens, a 360-degree camera, a panoramic sunroof and level-2 ADAS.

The facelifted Carens is expected to carry a premium over the current model which is priced from Rs 10.59 lakh (ex-showroom). It could be priced from around Rs 11.5 lakh. It will give tougher competition to the likes of the Toyota Innova Crysta and Hyundai Alcazar while also tussling with the Maruti Suzuki Ertiga, XL6 and Toyota Rumion.

[sharmanova]

Are they trying to do a Ertiga-XL6 sort of thing? where the premium version gets more features and option of captain seats, while the non-premium version will only get a 7 seater variant?

[Silverfire]

The Carens is very popular in the Yellow board Taxi market. This might be Kia's way of adopting the Maruti Suzuki Tour strategy. The old version is kept available for Yellow board taxi sales, while the new version is offered only for Private registeration.

[searacer932]

Originally Posted by Silverfire

The Carens is very popular in the Yellow board Taxi market. This might be Kia's way of adopting the Maruti Suzuki Tour strategy. The old version is kept available for Yellow board taxi sales, while the new version is offered only for Private registeration.

+1 to this.

I see many many yellow board Carens in Chennai. Presumably they are all diesel based Carens, whereas the Ertiga is largely petrol + CNG combination.

The caren has plucked a share of the market from the Eritga.

[ashvek3141]

Originally Posted by Silverfire

The Carens is very popular in the Yellow board Taxi market. This might be Kia's way of adopting the Maruti Suzuki Tour strategy. The old version is kept available for Yellow board taxi sales, while the new version is offered only for Private registeration.

Originally Posted by searacer932

+1 to this.

I see many many yellow board Carens in Chennai. Presumably they are all diesel based Carens, whereas the Ertiga is largely petrol + CNG combination.

True that. A colleague of mine is looking for a people-mover and I suggested him the Carens. He immediately striked it off saying that it is a 'taxi' and that he wants something 'premium'. He is now looking at the Alcazar. I tried to explain that the Carens is relatively better for the purpose, but to no avail.

I just hope that Kia doesn't end up the Toyota route with their supposedly premium brand - the Crysta getting taxi-fied eventually.

[GTO]

While we have seen two generations of the same car being sold simultaneously, this is the rarest of rare times that a facelift is being sold with the pre-facelift?

I'm not believing it yet. For one, it is more cost-efficient for the brand to streamline operations, purchases and sell only the updated facelift. Second, they can very well plan a base variant that is unappealing to private owners, but good for fleet owners. The Carens is anyway a popular taxi choice and that hasn't affected its sales in the private market. All MPV buyers (including for the mighty Innova Hycross) have come to accept that their model is going to be used by cabbies too.

[swami69]

Mine is a Carens White Turbo DCT and whenever i see a Taxi (obviously another white carens), I too get this feeling, oh Taxi image - But then, once you look at those nice spacious interiors and the value quotient, I think what so ?

It is a wonderful car which is so comfortable for my family (4 adults + a large Labrador) on long trips of 10 hours in a shot - various seating combinations to keep the doggy comfortable and close to us, roof aircon for all rows, air purifier etc.,

Seems like the facelift will bring in more goodies

Swami

[Sudarshan42]

I would argue that a car doubling as a taxi is a huge compliment to the capabilities of that car. What do cabbies look for? They look for reliability, comfort, practicality, and a cost-effective solution to do everything they throw at it. If a car has a cabbie's approval, it goes without saying that it can do anything a private buyer asks of it.

This may not be applicable to those looking for exclusivity. But in this segment, who really is?

[EternalCarEnthu]

For Carens, I have seen the cabbies go with Diesel iMT variant. The private buyers generally go for Petrol Manual or DCT variants. Mine is white too and have no regrets. The other way to look : If a car is not used as a cab, is it actually worth buying it?