Kia Carnival the new VW Combi?

Car design guru Peter Schreyer has been instrumental in raising the profile of Korean automaker Kia from cheap and cheerful to assertive and stylish, presiding over vehicles such as the Optima, Rio, Sportage and European-only c'eed.

The ex-Audi designer is expected to reveal the next generation Sorento SUV and Cerato small car late 2012 and early 2013 respectively, which would leave just one model untouched by the Schreyer effect - the Carnival.

Talking to Australian journalists at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show in March, Schreyer wouldn't reveal how far along the next generation Carnival is, but revealed that it could take a few design cues from the KV7 concept (pictured) seen at the 2011 Detroit Motor Show.

"How near in the future that [Carnival] is I don’t know, but the KV7 we saw at Detroit that was an objective example for a car like that ... [but] a real production car needs some refinement. We need to look at a style that would fit that larger type of car," said Schreyer.

Asked how he could make the Carnival more appealing to family buyers, the German designer stated: "I want to get away from that atmosphere that you only get an MPV if you have to. It was cool to have a VW Combi, but I think it [people movers] can be cool.

"But maybe an upgraded version of the Combi would be nice!"

Kia's design maestro said he was spending time involved with the development of smaller, highly efficient people movers, which are becoming more and more popular in Europe - cars such as the Kia Rondo and Carens.

"I think there is a market and need for both these cars [Carens and Carnival]," added Schreyer, who confirmed that we'll see the new Rondo in October: "Next Rondo at Paris - this segment is quite important."

When Schreyer finally completes his work on Kia's people movers in the next couple of years he will have worked on the entire range, but don't expect him to jump ship just yet.

"At Kia design we have reached now a point where the product range is there, and we get so much positive resonance everywhere. It's a big success, and it makes one proud and it's very rewarding to get all these comments. At this moment I'm not ready to say 'okay done, goodbye'. I want to keep going."

"It's not like a music piece that is over at a point of time, because the way we are working there is a constant flow of models that are developed in parallel. So by the time these cars come out we are already working on other stuff.

"This is our job, this is the way we do it. So for me it's never done."

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