2022 Kia Carnival Is Actually the Redesigned Sedona Minivan, Only With a New Name

 Engine and fuel economy also (almost) confirmed.

We've already told you what we know about the all-new 2022 Sedona, and now it appears there's a new twist: The Sedona will drop its North American name for the "Carnival" moniker used in the rest of the world.

The 2022 Kia Carnival now has an entry on that great betrayer of future vehicle information, the U.S. Department of Energy's fueleconomy.gov site. It confirms that the Carnival will have a 3.5-liter V-6 engine backed by an eight-speed automatic transmission. Oh, and it spills the beans on the 2022 Carnival's EPA fuel-economy figures, which come in at 19 mpg city, 26 mpg highway, and 22 mpg combined, up from the 18/24/21 offered by the current Sedona's 3.3-liter V-6.

We reached out to Kia Motors America for more information on the name change, and they had no official statement as of yet. Kia's minivan has been known as the Carnival in the home market since its 1998 introduction, with the Sedona name used in North America, Great Britain, and a few other markets.

Frankly, we're a bit surprised that Kia would trade the Sedona name, which conjures up images of epic family vacations across the barren beauty of the American Southwest, for one that makes us think of creepy calliope music and dozens of clowns pouring forth from the Carnival's smooth flanks. But maybe that's just us. And this isn't the only big name change Kia's undertaken of late—the long-serving Optima midsize sedan had its known-quantity name dropped in favor of "K5" (also used elsewhere in the world) recently.

In any event, we needn't wait much longer for more details beyond the EPA's disclosures. The handsome new Carnival is already on sale in South Korea and should arrive on American shores later this year.