Kia Carnival to go diesel-only

Order books for petrol V6 versions of the Kia Carnival are about to be closed as Kia Australia grapples with supply bottlenecks.

The move will put a significant dent in sales of Australia’s top-selling people-mover, given V6 versions account for almost a fifth of local Carnival sales, although diesel power remains the dominant preference for Aussies at 81 per cent so far this year.

Kia Australia has already paused orders for the penultimate Carnival Special Edition and is preparing to do the same for the rest of the V6 line-up – Si, SLi, Platinum – which means customers will soon only be able to purchase the diesel versions.

The effective halving of the range will temporarily see the Carnival’s entry price increase from $47,480 to $49,480 plus on-road costs.

But it’s clear that Australians are willing to pay a little more for the torquier and more frugal 148kW/440Nm 2.2-litre turbo-diesel, which consumes 6.5L/100km, than the more powerful but thirstier 216kW/355Nm 3.5-litre petrol V6, which consumes 9.6L/100km.

According to Kia Australia product planning manager Roland Rivero, the V6 is the powertrain of choice for the North American market, which therefore accounts for the lion’s share of supply.

“Petrol supply continues to be a problem,” he said in regard to the Special Edition.

“We’ve just recently removed it from the website to curtail orders and shortly other Carnival petrol trim variants will follow.”

Kia Australia could not tell carsales when petrol Carnival orders might reopen, nor how long the current delivery wait time is, but it could be too long to clear all backorders by the time the model’s mid-life update arrives, forcing Kia to either ‘upsell’ existing customers or refund their deposits.

The facelifted ‘PE’ Carnival will enter production in the first quarter of next year and should comfortably arrive in Aussie showrooms by the third quarter, bringing updated styling, a refreshed cabin and, for the first time, the option of a hybrid powertrain – for which Kia Australia has its hand firmly up.

“Facelift line-up details will be revealed closer to launch,” said Rivero.

Odds are the facelifted Carnival range will be without the Special Edition, given the SE trim level was originally created to offset semi-conductor shortage issues and keep sales ticking over, something it’s clearly succeeded at.

The Kia Carnival continues to dominate Australia’s mainstream (sub-$70,000) people-mover market segment, accounting for 72.8 per cent of sales to July this year. The only other model with a double-digit share is the big Kia’s sister model, the Hyundai Staria (13.2%)