CHICAGO – Kia Motors is including a hybrid mannequin to its Carnival minivan to satisfy growing shopper demand for the expertise and help in assembly tightening federal gas financial system requirements.

Hybrids are a rising possibility for automakers as they try to make automobiles extra environment friendly and keep away from expensive federal gas financial system and emissions requirements. They’re additionally cheaper and a much less dramatic adjustment for shoppers who need to go greener however aren’t able to buy all-electric automobiles.

EV gross sales have been slower than deliberate within the U.S. auto business, although they’re anticipated to develop.

Hybrid automobiles sometimes embody a standard inside combustion engine mixed with EV applied sciences similar to an electrical motor and small battery. They operate like conventional automobiles and don’t have to be plugged in like EVs or plug-in hybrid electrical automobiles.

Kia America Vice President of Advertising and marketing Russell Wager advised CNBC that including the hybrid possibility for the Carnival was about giving prospects selections. The South Korean automaker goals to have electrified fashions throughout its lineup.

“It is simply going so as to add an entire additional viewers, as a result of we did not have a hybrid,” Wager advised CNBC.

The Carnival hybrid, introduced on the Chicago Auto Present, is anticipated to go on sale alongside an up to date model of the standard minivan in the summertime. Each fashions function up to date styling and inside applied sciences in contrast with the present mannequin, which made waves within the household hauler section for its SUV-inspired design when it was launched in 2021.

Kia didn’t launch pricing or gas financial system expectations for the brand new fashions. The present Carnival begins from about $33,000 to $47,000. With a 3.5-liter V6 engine, it achieves as much as 20.6 miles per gallon mixed metropolis/freeway, with a complete vary of 418 miles.

That V6 engine will proceed to be supplied alongside the 1.6-liter four-cylinder turbo-hybrid engine that produces 242 horsepower and 271 foot-pounds of torque, in accordance with Kia.

Kia expects the hybrid mannequin to account for half of the Carnival’s gross sales, in accordance with the corporate.

Will probably be Kia’s fourth hybrid. The automaker additionally provides three plug-in hybrid electrical automobiles.

Except for the hybrid possibility, the up to date minivan features a redesigned back and front, together with new lights and a bigger, extra open grille on the entrance of the automobile. The up to date inside consists of Kia’s new infotainment system and different newer tech. It continues to supply “VIP lounge seating” with energy controls and leg extensions, very like a standard reclining chair.

Whereas the U.S. minivan section is a far cry from its peak of roughly 1.5 million automobiles within the mid-Nineteen Nineties, some auto firms similar to Hyundai and Chrysler stay within the class.

Kia dad or mum Hyundai, which bought fewer than 44,000 Carnivals final 12 months, achieved 14% market share of the roughly 305,500-unit minivan market final 12 months within the U.S., in accordance with auto knowledge agency Motor Intelligence.

Chrysler was the section chief final 12 months with gross sales of its Pacifica minivan, together with a plug-in hybrid electrical model, at greater than 120,550 items, or roughly 40% market share.

“We do not like being the place we’re ranked in our market share,” Wager mentioned. “We expect we will compete with any of the others within the section.”

Wager mentioned the Carnival, which is imported from South Korea, is capability constrained, that means Kia may promote extra within the U.S. if they might import extra of the automobiles.

He mentioned the corporate is growing manufacturing capability of the Carnival for the U.S.

The added capability in addition to extra manufacturing of different Kia fashions ought to help the automaker in topping its document U.S. gross sales of 782,451 automobiles final 12 months.

“Our aim is to promote greater than we bought for final 12 months’s document gross sales,” Wager mentioned.