The Korean auto industry has come a long way. So long, in fact, that they now have the luxury of looking back at their early history and honoring it by restoring a couple of the earliest Kia vehicles. At first glance you might have mistaken them for a couple of classic Mazdas, though, because that’s essentially what they are.
Kia happens to be celebrating its 80th birthday this year. It began life producing bicycle parts as Kyungsung Precision Industries. In 1957 it struck a deal with Honda to build licensed versions of their motorcycles. A few years later, in 1962, Kia partnered with Mazda to build licensed versions of their small pickups. In 1969 Kia launched the T-600 3-wheeled truck, which began life in Japan as the Mazda K360.
Nicknamed the sambari, or “three-footed vehicle”, it quickly became a best-seller and a “truck of the people” as Korea’s economy was still struggling to find its footing. Despite its popularity, in 1972 the government prohibited the driving of T-600s on highways due to increased accidents, according to The Korea Economic Daily. Kia discontinued the T-600 in the mid-70s.
However, the once-indispensable truck was designated as Registered Cultural Property by the South Korean Cultural Heritage Administration in 2008. There are said to be only three examples known to exist in the country. In 2015 a privately owned one made headlines when it was offered for sale at ₩1 billion (about $725,000 USD). That means Kia’s freshly restored blue and white specimen is essentially priceless.
In 1973 Kia began production of the Brisa Pickup, another design that originated from Mazda. Based on the second-generation Mazda Familia 1000 Truck, it was a small ute with a 1.0-liter 4-cylinder engine and had a load capacity of 500kg (1100 lbs).
The pickup was soon followed in 1974 by the Kia Brisa sedan, the company’s first passenger car. It was based on the newly launched third-generation Mazda Familia. Korea’s automakers were under tremendous government pressure to produce cars locally rather rely on foreign companies. Within two years of launch Kia managed to produce 90 percent of the Brisa’s parts within South Korea.
The Brisa soon faced some stiff competition when rival Hyundai (still decades prior to buying 51 percent of Kia to save it from bankruptcy in 1998) launched the Pony in 1975. The Kia-Mazda partnership came to a close in 1981 when the military dictator Chun DooHwan came into power and halted passenger car production in favor of trucks.
Kia didn’t resume making passenger car until 1986, when it linked up with Ford. That car was the Kia Pride, essentially a rebadged Ford Festiva that was, as it happens, designed by Mazda at Ford’s behest.
The T-600 and Brisa are two very important cars in Kia history, and the recently restored pair was revived under the company’s “heritage project” directive. Restorers used another T-600 and Brisa stored at Kia’s R&D center, as well as old brochures and photos, as reference. According to Car and Driver, the cars were displayed in the ritzy Gangnam (of Gangnam Style fame) at a Kia experience center.
Parent company Hyundai has also been hard at work promoting their heritage. In 2021 they resto-modded a Hyundai Grandeur — a rebadged Mitsubishi Debonair — which was followed in 2022 by the outrageous Pony-based N Vision 74. It’s always heartwarming to see automotive history being preserved, and the Kia-Mazda chapter is now in good hands.
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Kias are pretty darn tough … we had an early Sportage and, it was rearended bad but, it survived with a new rear hatch. We also had a Spectra 5 in a bright red 5-door hatchback that could not be killed easily. We passed it on to our daughter as her first car. When it finally died, it didn’t owe us a dime. Our latest Korean offering was a new Hyundai SUV, which served us well until we traded up to the Mercedes-Benz CLA250 4Matic AMG. Both cars, Hyundai and Kia are very tough and worth the money.
Black-on-black isn’t really the Brisa’s best color. The 1/24 model kit from Academy comes with its’ body molded in metallic maroon, I painted mine lime green.
The Kia Brisa ll was essentially a Mazda Grand Familia/Savanna/RX3/808. The Kia Sephia sold in the U.S. used the 1.8L engine, which was a Mazda design also.
I knew that the Ford Festiva was built by Kia and captive-imported, but I did not know that it was a Mazda design, nice!
Wasn’t aware of any of that – thanks Ben!