The Kia Pride is returning as an electric car (sort of)

Kia has revealed a one-off all-electric restomod to celebrate its 80th anniversary.

The Kia Pride EV was developed by the Korean brand and EV conversion specialists Electrogenic to breathe new electric life into the first model Kia ever sold in the UK.

Based on a 1996 Pride LX from Kia’s heritage fleet, the ‘socket rocket’ has been stripped back and hand restored with almost twice as much power and torque as before.

The car’s original 1.3-litre petrol engine was removed, along with the fuel tank, and replaced with a compact electric motor and twin 10kWh battery packs to give the same level of performance as hot hatches of its era.

The original 60bhp has been boosted to 107bhp – a 77% increase – while torque is up 99% to 173lb ft. According to Kia, that’s sufficient for rapid overtaking or ‘lunching’ the front tyres in a cloud of burnt rubber. Unusually for an EV conversion, the Pride retains its original drive shafts and five-speed manual transmission which has been carefully integrated into the drivetrain with a performance clutch.

Despite the new electric equipment the car weighs just 870kg – 20kg more than before and a difference offset by a substantial jump in its power-to-weight ratio.

Unlike the original car, the Pride EV comes with three drive modes – Eco, Auto and Sport. Eco limits the car’s power and performance to similar levels as the petrol engine, with 60bhp, 87lb ft and a predicted 0-62mph time of just under 12 seconds. Auto, predictably sits above this, offering around 80bhp.

Sport, meanwhile, unlocks all the power and torque for wheel-spinning silliness. There are no official performance figures yet, but Kia is predicting a 0-62mph time of around 8 seconds – that’s quicker than a 200bhp EV9.

While it’s almost all-new under the surface, the car still looks like an original 90s Pride – from its boxy five-door bodywork and 12-inch steel wheels to the analogue instruments and grey fabric interior. But there have been some updates. The Kingfisher Blue paint has been replaced with the brand’s current White Pearl and the era-appropriate upholstery has been finished with a lime green piping in a nod to the colour scheme of the Kia EV6 GT.

Behind the original filler cap lurks a Type 2 charging connector and the fuel indicator has been carefully modified to show the battery’s state of charge. Kia reckons the 20kWh total capacity is good for around 120 miles in Eco mode, and substantially less in Sport.

Although it’s a one-off curio, the Pride EV is road legal and we’ll be beating a path to Kia’s door to get behind the wheel.