Kia Sedona (or the Kia Carnival as it’s called in some markets) is the minivan in the Korean carmaker’s scheme of things. The current generation Sedona has been on sale since 2014 and is in a dire need of an update. Kia was spotted testing a highly cladded test mule of the minivan in the Orange County, California four months back. Now, the Korean carmaker has taken the minivan up the mountains of Deutschland for European testing.
The test mule hasn’t dropped any of its body cladding from its last sighting. The concealment manages to hide any updates that have undergone both fore and aft of the car. The design element of the grille from the recently updated Sportage and Sorento is expected to be a part of the update. There might be a redesigned glass area over the doors and rear side window, suggesting that Kia might be working on a tweaked silhouette of the minivan.
At the rear, the cladding is even dense hinting at a completely reworked posterior. It seems like an unnecessary disguise if this is a minor mid-life update. However, if the Korean carmaker is taking lots of efforts to hide the prototype and test it at the different parts of the world, we expect a major update for the Korean minivan.
Nevertheless, the most important change for the minivan will be under the skin. The newly developed eight-speed automatic transmission will replace the currently offered six-speed unit. Expect the outdated infotainment system to be replaced with a more modern unit. However, the Sedona will continue to be powered by the same set of petrol and diesel powerplants.
Kia is expected to introduce the new and updated Sedona/Carnival sometime next year as a 2019 model year update. The minivan is in a need of an update since the competition has taken the game further with the new generation Honda Odyssey and Chrysler Pacifica.
