SAIPA Pride (Saba / Nasim) History

In 1993 SAIPA entered a licensing agreement with Kia Motors to produce the first-generation Kia Pride in Iran. Over the following years local content climbed to 85–97 percent, and SAIPA marketed the sedan as the Saba and the hatchback as the Nasim. The Pride family rapidly became Iran's best-selling vehicle, underpinned by an extremely low purchase price that put new-car ownership within reach of a large segment of the population.

When international sanctions forced Kia to exit the relationship in the mid-2000s, SAIPA continued manufacturing the platform entirely with domestic resources. The company progressively introduced facelifted derivatives: the 141 liftback (2002), the 132 sedan facelift (2007), the 111 hatchback variant (2009), and the 151 pickup (2012). Cumulative production across all Pride-family variants exceeded six million units by 2020 — making it one of the highest-volume single-platform vehicles in Middle Eastern automotive history.

The Pride sedan (Saba) and hatchback (Nasim) were discontinued in 2009 as SAIPA transitioned to the newer Tiba and Saina models, though commercial and pickup variants lingered. The 151 pickup remained in production beyond 2020 as the last surviving member of the family.