Saipa Atlas is endlessly rehashed Kia Pride
Iran’s largest car manufacturer has presented a new model. Although, new … Meet the Saipa Atlas, yet another variant of a car that still uses the platform of the Kia Pride that was sold in the Netherlands between 1995 and 2000.
A bird’s-eye view: what is Saipa? Saipa is an Iranian car manufacturer that sold its first car in Iran in the 1960s, a proprietary version of the Citroën Dyane that was christened Jyane. Saipa – in which the Iranian state has a majority stake – produced several over the years models from various car manufacturers licensed. From Renault (5 and 21) to Dacia (Sandero, Logan) and from Nissan to Citroën (Xantia and C5). Saipa especially has a great fondness for the Pride. Given the origin of the brand, that is of course a bizarre sentence, but we are of course talking about the little Kia. You remember him, that small hatchback based on the Ford Festiva that was sold in the Netherlands between 1995 and 2000. Saipa sold (and sells!) the Pride as a five-door hatchback (Nasim), but also as a four-door sedan (Saba), station wagon (Safari), liftback (141) and even as a pick-up and van. Saipa likes the basis of the Kia Pride. For example, Saipa still has a few cars in its range that use the platform of the Kia Pride. The brand is now presenting its latest model to the world: the Atlas. That too is, in principle, a very old Pride.
The technology of the old Ford Festiva-based Kia Pride is indispensable at Saipa.
The Saipa Atlas that plays the leading role in this article is in fact the facelifted Saipa Quick (photos 10, 11 and 12). That Saipa Quick, just like the Tiba (photo 15) and Saina, is on what the Iranians call the X200 platform, a further developed platform of the old Kia Pride. Compared to the Quick, the Saipa Atlas has a revised front with new headlights and a striking grille with vertical slats. The Atlas also distinguishes itself with other rear lights of the Quick. Saipa does not yet release images of the interior. You can see the interior of the pre-facelift version Quick in photo 12. We aim for the dimensions of the Saipa Atlas to match those of the pre-facelift version Quick. That means that we are dealing with a hatchback that is about 4 meters long and 1.68 meters wide.
Saipa and Pars Khodro
When you think of the Iranian car industry, you undoubtedly think of Pars Khodro. That is a brand that sells old Dacias under its own name, among other things, and that has also sold the Peugeot 405 in a refreshed form for years. Pars Khodro still exists and is 51 percent owned by Saipa. Pars Khodro has also delivered an interesting car based on the Kia Pride: the Sepand PK. That impressive result of shuffling production lines between Saipa and Iran Khodro was a Pride-based Renault 5! Incidentally, Saipa also has more modern stuff in the showrooms. For example, the Saipa Shahin is a sedan that is said to be on a modernized platform of the second generation Toyota Yaris (photos 13 and 14). Saipa, you could write a book about it.
The Sepand PK. A Renault 5 with the platform of the Kia Pride. Special.
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– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl