Kia Turned A Boring Old Econobox Into A Cool Little EV

You have probably never heard of the Kia Pride. It was a rebadged Ford Festiva subcompact hatchback sold in the 1990s with a tiny gasoline engine, but it got the job done. And it’s exactly an unassuming Pride that Kia decided to bring into the 21st century for its 80th birthday.

Say hello, then, to the only all-electric Kia Pride in the world. It’s a cute two-door nostalgia hit that packs an electric punch thanks to UK-based conversion specialist Electrogenic. The 1.3-liter gas-burning lump is out of the picture–in its place, an electric motor and twin battery pack were installed.

But not all of the nostalgia is gone because the five-speed gearbox is still there, hooked up to the electric motor through a new performance-oriented clutch kit that can handle the extra torque of the battery-powered drive unit. Speaking of torque (and power), the old Pride’s combustion engine had a rather modest output of 60 horsepower and 87 pound-feet of torque, while the new setup is capable of delivering up to 107 hp and 173 lb-ft of torque.

If old-school thrills are more your idea of fun, you can do that, too. Electrogenic fitted a motor controller to the Pride EV that has three driving settings: Eco, Sport and Auto. In Eco, the electric hatchback has exactly the same power and torque as the original gas engine, while Sport kicks things up a notch and sends everything to the front wheels. These two modes also have minimal brake regeneration, while Auto is somewhere in between, with 80 hp and 130 lb-ft of torque, but with more brake regen.

To engage Auto, the driver has to shift into third gear and switch the drive selector into the appropriate mode.

There’s no word on the real-world range of the converted Pride, but Kia said it has a total battery capacity of 20 kilowatt-hours split equally between two units, one at the rear and one at the front of the car for better weight distribution. Charging the EV can be done via a Type 2 connector that sits where the fuel filler used to be. With a 3.3-kilowatt on-board charger, Kia’s restomod can be fully charged from 1-to-100% state of charge in around six hours. There’s no DC fast charging.

The interior was retrimmed in period-appropriate grey cloth with lime green piping on the seats and lime green stitching on the floor mats. The analog instrument cluster has been retained from the original, but the fuel level gauge has been adapted to show the battery’s state of charge. Outside, the car got a new lick of paint with a “White Pearl” finish, the same as that offered on the Kia EV3, EV6, EV9 and Niro EV.