Old School Cool: Kia’s 80th Anniversary Sleeper Car Shocks With Electric Power

Kia UK has just unveiled a real stunner to celebrate its 80th anniversary. They've taken one of their old city cars and transformed it into an electric powerhouse. In the UK, this little car is known as the Kia Pride, the car that first introduced British drivers to the brand back in 1991, famous for its quirky whitewall tires.

However, you'll recognize it in the U.S. as the Ford Festiva, which Kia built in South Korea based on Mazda's 121 design. The original vehicle came with 1.1 and 1.3-liter engines, but they barely scraped together 60 horsepower.

This electrified version, though, is almost twice as powerful. Kia teamed up with EV specialists Electrogenic to replace the old combustion engine with a new electric drivetrain, but they decided to keep the classic five-speed manual gearbox.

Hopefully, they upgraded the bearings along with the clutch, because the new setup now pushes out 107 horsepower and a hefty 173 lb-ft of torque—double the original output.

Those numbers may appear modest compared to the 225 horsepower of the smallest Kia EV6, but keep in mind that the EV6 weighs a substantial 4,550 pounds, while the converted Pride weighs only 1,920 pounds, with the EV swap adding only 44 pounds. Just like a modern EV, the electrified Pride comes with different driving modes.

Eco mode reduces power to 60 horsepower and torque to 87 lb-ft, delivering performance comparable to the original ICE car, with a 0-62 mph time of 11.8 seconds.

Auto mode lets you relax by keeping the car in third gear the whole time, while Sport mode unlocks the full 107 horsepower and 173 lb-ft of torque, shaving the 0-62 time down to around 8 seconds—just a tick slower than the EV6’s 7.7 seconds, though the Pride’s skinny 12-inch tires can’t quite match the grip of modern rubber.

What makes this Kia truly fun is that it still looks like a perfectly preserved 1996 Pride, with original wheels and hidden charging port. Most people would be surprised to learn that it boasts a powerful electric engine.

There are a few updates, like a sleek White Pearl paint job and some modernized lights, while the interior gets a retro-themed cloth retrim with lime green stitching, paying homage to the 577-horsepower EV6 GT. Innovative technology from Electrogenic cleverly repurposes the original instrument cluster to display the battery charge.

This EV Pride takes about six hours to fully recharge using a 3.3 kW charger. Thanks to its light weight, it can still manage a solid 120 miles on a full charge.