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South Korean carmaker Kia celebrates its 80th year of existence in 2024.
Among the tributes in show of celebration, was a one-off development by the manufacturer’s UK operations.
Kia UK revealed a restored, electric vehicle (EV) version of the Pride hatchback. It was created in collaboration between Kia UK and Electrogenic, based on a 1996 Pride 1.3 LX five-door donor car from Kia UK’s heritage fleet.
The upcycled Pride EV introduces a fully electric powertrain – with high power, instantaneous torque and zero tailpipe emissions – to a car that was never created with any of these characteristics in mind.
It swaps almost all of its original internal combustion components for a fully electric powertrain – with only its original five-speed manual transmission and drive shafts retained. The conversion from petrol to electric power was carried out by hand in the UK. The Pride EV is fully road-legal and, somewhere between a curio and a plaything, intended to be as engaging to drive as an early hot hatch.
The car retains its original 1980s-derived design (and its original 12-inch steel wheels and wheel covers). However, it adopts certain elements that link it to the modern Kia of 2024.
Until only recently, the donor car sported its original kingfisher blue exterior paint. Now the car has been stripped down and resprayed with a white pearl finish, as featured on the Kia EV3, EV6, EV9 and Niro EV. The front and rear lights have also been upgraded. The interior of the Pride EV remains trimmed in period-appropriate grey cloth, but now features lime green piping on the seats and lime green stitching on the floor mats. These playful details are a direct visual link to the same lime green found throughout the interior – and on the brake callipers – of the Kia EV6 GT.
The new motor’s peak power output is significantly inflated over the four-cylinder 1.1- or 1.3-litre engines originally offered with the Pride.
The first step of the conversion was to remove the 1,324cc engine, 37-litre petrol tank, fuel lines and filler neck. These have been replaced with a compact electric motor, twin 10kWh battery packs, and a charging socket beneath the filler flap.
When new in 1996, the original engine produced 44kW/118Nm. Now in its place is an electric motor, which produces up to 80kW/235Nm. The new motor drives the front wheels via its original five-speed transmission, retained and re-worked by Electrogenic.
The Pride EV is the third “one-off” car that Kia UK has created in recent years, following in the footsteps of two unique and radically different vehicles. The first of these was the all-powerful Stinger “GT420”, a tuned-up, stripped-down track car created in 2019 to show off the performance potential of Kia’s 3.3-litre twin-turbo grand tourer.
The second was an upcycled Soul EV beach buggy, reimagined for surfers. The car was fitted with a custom surfboard rack, a wooden-decked interior and a beach bench which folded out of the open tailgate.
It also boasted “rally raid” style elevated suspension and chunky tyres for tackling the sand. Kyungsung Precision Industry was first established in 1944 as a bicycle components manufacturer. The company was renamed Kia Industries in 1952, the same year it turned to producing pedal bicycles.
Kia’s first motorised vehicle arrived in 1962, the K-360, a three-wheeled light truck produced under licence in Korea. The company’s first passenger car, the Kia Brisa, was introduced in 1974. The company first imported vehicles into the UK in 1991, starting with the Pride and soon followed by other vehicles, including the ever-popular Sportage. Today, Kia achieves around 3 million global sales each year across worldwide markets.
Like most mainstream automakers, Kia has invested heavily in an electric strategy. While none of its EV models are yet available locally, abroad it has a range comprising the EV6, EV9 and Niro EV. Globally, Kia will offer a range of 15 EV models by 2027 as part of its ‘Plan S’ strategy.
