This Mazda Familia is a Korean Nostalgic Car


Guess what kind of car this is. Go on, guess. If you said Mazda Familia you’d be only sort of right. Mechanically, its a second-generation Familia with a cheap eggcrate grille, quad headlamps, and either a 1.0 or 1.3 liter Mazda inline-four under the hood. But technically, it’s a Kia Brisa

Manufactured under license in Korea from 1974 to 1981, a total of 31,017 were built, including wagon and pickup versions. With Hyundai-Kia fast becoming one of the largest automakers in the world, we wonder if Mazda regrets this decision. For more information, read here.

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12 Responses to This Mazda Familia is a Korean Nostalgic Car

  1. Lukas says:

    I wrote about this month ago in my blog. For all german readers, look here: http://wierus.wordpress.com/2011/05/03/first-kias/

  2. baltsiotis says:

    A quite informative article, not that accurate though. Light pick ups produced by KIA after mazda Familia pick up (1000/1200/1300) were carrying the 1000 and 1300 engines and as every (then) KIA not passenger car were named KIAMASTER. One searching the advertisments in certain South American countries cab still spot some of them for sale.
    Passenger cars were released with two different engines also: 1000 and 1300. As far as I know were exproted as KIA SS. The Grand Familia/808/818/Mizer based KIA is something different. Some information and photos can be found at ausrotary.
    L. Baltsiotis
    Greece

  3. E-AT_me says:

    the underpinnings of my 01 Kia Sportage is pure Mazda Bongo based. even the front diff swaps with a Miata. the rear? an RX7. engine is a DOHC FE3.

  4. Lukas says:

    A Mazda-scrapyard nearby is scrapping Mazdas and Kia, because many parts are interchangeable. Good for Kia-owners.

  5. Brownie says:

    KNC, soon… 🙂

  6. Kaz says:

    Here in Chile that car was sold as Kia, in sedan version like te picture one and the Pickup was sold as KiaMaster, it’s pretty look a like a Datsun 620 (1600 here). It’s not pretty common but until today you can see some of those in the streets.

    • Ben says:

      Any in good condition?

      • Kaz says:

        Yes the pickup that i saw often is in very good shape , sadly the Sedan have some rust spots in the doors, I think that this one is from some rural area, and thinking is a little bit rounder than the one from the picture. I searched in the Database of car matriculation of the goverment and all those Kia where matriculated in 1981 as Kia Brisa had 4 doors and 1.3 lt engine, strangely no info of the pickup was shown .

  7. Cosme says:

    I clearly remember the KIA Brisa in Central America – this must be a 1977 Brisa model- my dad used to be the Sales Manager for several brands and KIA was one of them. You can still see a few KIA Brisa running in Guatemala. The KiaMaster pick up truck was somewhat popular with a 1300 cc engine (mostly because of its low price).

  8. ewok racing says:

    Check out some very old threads on ausrotary for more information and photos, including a ute from Greece I think IIRC.

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