Kia Officially Announces Sedona Replacement, Newish Name
As is often the case with global products, the Kia Sedona minivan doesn’t go by the same name in all regions. In its home market of South Korea, it answers to the Carnival moniker and is already on its fourth generation using Hyundai/Kia’s mid-size N3 platform.
Destined to enter the North American market as a 2022 model-year vehicle, the manufacturer used this week to promote its February 23rd debut via livestream. It also confirmed that it would no longer be using the Sedona name and would henceforth be known as the Carnival in the Western world.
Sadly, this might be our only real surprise from the vehicle — and not much of one since it was rumored to happen for months. The redesigned Carnival (pictured) already debuted in its home market last year, giving us an excellent idea of what we can expect to see at the dealership.
Teaser images haven’t done much to suggest that the American version will be all that different from the Korean model and we already know Kia plans on offering it with the 290-horsepower Smartstream G3.5 GDi V6 and nothing else. While that could change later on, introductory models will see the powerplant mated to an eight-speed automatic driving the front wheels.
Seating configurations should allow for swiveling captain’s chairs in the second row, letting customers option their van to seat seven or eight. There should also be matching 12.3-inch displays for both instrumentation and infotainment. It’s also dimensionally larger than the outgoing Sedona, gaining 1.6 inches in overall length. While some of this could be attributed to its substantially boxier design, its wheelbase has also been stretched by 1.2 inches. Kia is promising more interior volume for passengers and 102.5 cubic feet of cargo space.
The North American Kia Carnival has its introductory livestream scheduled for February 23 at 2:00 PM EST. Those interested can schedule a reminder for themselves or just head over to the streamworks site when the time comes.
[Images: Kia Motors]
A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.
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"Carnival" brings to mind lots of flashing lights, overpriced lousy food, ripoff game booths run by dubious-looking carnies, shortchange artists at the ticket booth, garbage all over the ground... not what a vehicle name should bring to mind. "Sedona" sounds vaguely Western, an interesting, exotic, faraway place that you would need a comfortable, spacious, dependable vehicle to get to. Hey, Kia, it's not too late to change your mind about this!
Boring is very good especially when it comes to reliability. Not boring is an Italian car that is challenging to keep running. Boring is very good.