This cheap little Kia-built hatchback quietly sold around 350,000 units in the US under the Ford badge — and gave Kia its first real foothold in America.
Lead trim: Festiva 1.3 B3 carbureted five-speed (Australia)
Ford Festiva WA1986–1994
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Nobody in Burbles has spotted a Ford Festiva WA yet. See one on the street, point the app at it, and the first card is yours — with your @handle permanently credited on this page.
FactThis cheap little Kia-built hatchback quietly sold around 350,000 units in the US under the Ford badge — and gave Kia its first real foothold in America.
The first-generation Ford Festiva was designed and engineered by Mazda in Japan at the request of Ford — a front-wheel-drive three-door hatchback with rack-and-pinion steering, independent front suspension with struts, coil springs and sway bar, and a torsion-beam rear — launched in Japan in February 1986 with 1.1 and 1.3-litre engines (L, L Special, S, Ghia and Canvas Top levels, retailed through the Autorama network) and facelifted in 1989. Kia began production under licence in mid-1986 as the Kia Pride and from late 1987 exported to the United States as the 1988 Ford Festiva (Canadian sales from January 1989, roughly 350,000 Kia-built Festivas sold in the US): a single 1.3-litre B3 with L, L Plus and LX trims, fuel injection from 1990, the L Plus and LX merged into the GL for 1991. In Australia Ford imported the Kia-built car from October 1991 (five-door, then the three-door "Festiva Trio" from January 1993, both with the 1.3-litre B3 and a five-speed manual or optional three-speed automatic) until March 1994; from 1989 Autorama also sold left-hand-drive Korean-assembled five-door hatchbacks and later a four-door sedan as the Festiva 5 and Festiva β in Japan. Production of the Japanese-market Festiva ended in December 1992, and Monash University's 2008 Used Car Safety Ratings called it "worse than average" (two stars). It was also built by SAIPA in Iran, Ford Lio Ho in Taiwan and others.
Collectors Spotted in the Ford Festiva Lineage
No member has published a public street spot of the Ford Festiva yet — the First · Worldwide stamp is wide open.
Trims & Figures
2 published trims in the catalogue. A blank is a figure not recorded, not zero.
| Trim | Years | Engine | Power | Torque | 0–60 | Drive | Gearbox | MSRP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Festiva 1.3 B3 (US; L / L Plus / LX) | 1988–1993 | 1.3 L Inline-4 | — | — | — | FWD | — | — |
| Festiva 1.3 B3 carbureted five-speed (Australia) | 1991–1994 | 1.3 L Inline-4 | — | — | — | FWD | — | — |
Owning one
We don’t estimate running costs for a car like this. What it costs depends on its condition, its specialist and how it is driven, and an average would mislead.
Owners’ builds
Nobody has claimed one yet.
Photographs
Monash University's 2008 safety study gave the second-generation Festiva the same bleak "worse than average" two-out-of-five rating as the first — a more modern car scoring no better in a crash.
The Festiva Shogun shoehorned a V6 into a tiny economy hatch — then a cancelled order and the Gulf War recession killed it after just eight were ever built.
An independent shop built a mid-engined, 220-hp V6 version of the humble Festiva called the Shogun — Ford nearly blessed it officially, but in the end only seven were ever built.
This cheap little Kia-built hatchback quietly sold around 350,000 units in the US under the Ford badge — and gave Kia its first real foothold in America.
Ford's cheap-and-cheerful Festiva had a secret hot version: the GT and GT-X, shown at the 1986 Tokyo Motor Show, packed a unique twin-cam 1.3-litre engine, a body kit and a bonnet bulge.
Rivals
Same body, same money, other badges — tap any card to flip.
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