Hyundai’s recreated Pony Coupe Concept has made its world premiere - nearly 50 years after its original debut - in Lake Como, Italy. Originally unveiled at the 1974 Turin Motor Show, the Pony Coupe Concept is an important vehicle in the company’s history and design heritage.
Hyundai unveiled the rebuilt Pony
Coupe Concept at the inaugural Hyundai Reunion, a heritage brand
platform that reflects on Hyundai’s past and its future direction. Among
the representatives present at the event were Giorgetto Giugiaro and
his son Fabrizio Giugiaro, long time designer himself, to signal the
previously announced restoration, completed by GFG Style, the style
center that draws on the creative expertise of Fabrizio and Giorgetto,
of the car that led to the creation of the brand’s seminal Pony lineup,
Korea’s first independently developed mass-production models.
Under
the Pony Coupe Concept restoration project, Hyundai has brought the
original Pony Coupe Concept shown at the 1974 Turin Motor Show back to
life. This restoration project is a testament to the spirit, daring
passion and ambition that Hyundai employees and executives had to create
a global brand with the Pony Coupe Concept at its forefront.
With
its unique aesthetic sensibility, the Pony Coupe Concept was a
groundbreaking model in its time. Unfortunately, due to the adverse
global economic conditions in the late 1970s, what could have been
Hyundai’s first sensational sports car was unable to reach commercial
production and was lost to history. Nevertheless, the concept embodies
Hyundai’s bold determination to enter the sports-car sector for
long-term leadership as an automotive company - this spirit still
underlies in Hyundai’s leadership in electrification and
high-performance hydrogen technology.
The car is now considered a
retro-futuristic classic that has served as design inspiration for more
recent Hyundai models, such as the N Vision 74 hydrogen-hybrid electric
‘Rolling Lab’ development vehicle and the ‘45’ EV concept car that
directly influenced the Ioniq 5 all-electric vehicle.
The Pony
Coupe Concept’s origami-like exterior features flowing geometric lines, a
sleek roofline, pure unadorned surfaces, dynamic proportions and a
uniquely shaped B pillar. It boasts an extremely graphic surface
treatment with bumpers painted in body color. Its wedge-shaped snout and
circular headlamps distinguished it in 1974 and still look
ultra-stylish today. Its coda tronca (cut-off tail) has a slim hatch to
provide access to the back of the car.
The minimalist interior
showcases an iconic sensibility highlighting the monocoque design and
driver-centered floating architecture. A single-spoke steering wheel and
two-toned slim-line bucket seats reinforce what was in the 1970s
futuristic aesthetic.
As part of the global heritage project, Hyundai will expand its new brand platform, Hyundai Reunion to further spread its brand vision and direction.
