Kia revealed photos of a restyled 2025 Carnival minivan late last week on its social media pages. The brand hasn’t said anything more about the 2025 Carnival, but we can determine a few things from the photos.
The Carnival isn’t due for a significant redesign anytime soon. It’s only been on the road since the 2022 model year. Most automakers sell a design for five to seven years before starting from scratch on a new model.
But most cars get a makeover at the halfway point — what the industry calls a “refresh.” So, the 2025 Carnival isn’t likely new from the ground up. But it is due for styling updates and perhaps some new interior tech to keep it competitive.
Since its last redesign, the Carnival has been the most SUV-like of the small list of minivans still for sale in the U.S. It sits fourth of four in our list of the Best Minivans, but there’s no bad choice in the bunch. Our expert test drivers rate the best of them 4.7 out of 5 stars and the worst 4.4.
For 2025, the Carnival will get a new grille and a more upright, boxy front fascia. It features what Kia’s Facebook page amusingly called “Signature Starbucks Lighting.” We’re fairly certain that’s an autocorrect error. Kia designers have called their new linear lighting pattern “star map lighting” in all our interactions.
But leaving an autocorrect error as-is is on-brand for a vehicle for tired parents.
New full-width taillights and a shiny lower rear fascia mimicking a skid plate add to the SUV-like styling. Kia is apparently fine with emphasizing the van’s bulk.
Social media posts also note a new trim level called “Gravity,” which features “dark metallic colors.”
Kia typically unveils general design changes for a global audience, then follows up with details for individual countries a few weeks later. So, we expect to see the U.S. version of the Carnival before the end of the year. We’ll offer those details as soon as we have them.
