Kia Carens waiting period at 75 weeks, highest among all cars launched this year

Kia Carens three-row MPV has the longest waiting period among all the cars launched in India this year. According to latest updates from dealers, the waiting period stretches up to 75 weeks as in May for select variants. The six and seven-seater MPV was launched earlier this year on February 15 at a starting price of ₹8.99 lakh (ex-showroom). Within six weeks, the car received a price hike which increased the cost of the base model to ₹9.59 lakh (ex-showroom). Among the existing three-row models in India, Kia Carens rivals the likes of Hyundai Alcazar, Mahindra XUV700 and Maruti XL6 among others.

The longest waiting period for Carens is on the base variants of the vehicle. The Premium and Prestige base variants with the 1.5-litre petrol manual have a waiting period between 74 and 75 weeks. This is almost as high as Mahindra XUV700, which has the longest waiting period among all cars currently available in the market. Some of the variants of the XUV700 SUV have a waiting period going up to almost 20 months, or almost two years.

Among the other variants of the Kia Carens, the top-of-the-range diesel automatic Luxury Plus seven seater model has a waiting period of up to 39 weeks. This is the highest after the base variants. The diesel manual variants in the Premium, Prestige, Prestige Plus and Luxury trims have a waiting period of up to 33 weeks. The Luxury Plus 6 and 7-seater models of the 1.4-litre DCT petrol variants have a waiting period of up to 23 weeks.

Kia Carens variants	Waiting period (tentative)
Premium 1.5-litre petrol manual	74-75 weeks
Prestige 1.5-litre petrol manual	74-75 weeks
Luxury Plus 7 1.5-litre diesel automatic	38-39 weeks
Luxury 1.5-litre diesel manual	32-33 weeks
Luxury Plus 6/7 1.4-litre DCT petrol	22-23 weeks

Kia has sold more than 12,000 units of Carens till end of April. The Korean carmaker had said that it received more than 50,000 bookings within the first few weeks of its launch.

The Carens received a price hike in April, barely six weeks within its launch. The three-row MPV received price hike ranging between ₹20,000 and ₹70,000 ex-showroom. The price of base variants of the model, called Premium 7, now starts at ₹9.59 lakh (ex-showroom), a hike of ₹60,000. The Luxury Plus 7 variants, which was launched at an introductory price of ₹16.19 lakh (ex-showroom) now starts from ₹16.59 lakh (ex-showroom), a hike of ₹40,000.

The top-spec 1.4-litre petrol 7-speed DCT Luxury Plus 6-seater price now starts at ₹17.44 lakh (ex-showroom) while the seven-seater version of the same-spec variant starts at ₹17.49 lakh (ex-showroom). The top-spec petrol variants were initially launched at a price of ₹16.99 lakh (ex-showroom). The top-spec 1.5-litre diesel variants, which were also launched at the same price cost ₹65,000 more for the six-seater variant and ₹70,000 for the seven-seater variant.

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