► Hyundai Coupe Concept remade for 2023
► Original designer Giorgetto Giugiaro at the helm
► The car that begat Hyundai’s current style
The Hyundai Ioniq 5 might be one of the freshest-looking cars on the road in 2023, but its styling borrows heavily from a previous, little-known Hyundai: the Pony Concept from 1974 – an angular, modernist slice of automotive futurism first revealed nearly half a century ago.
Designed as a one-off for the 1974 Turin Motor Show and never built, it provided the inspiration for a range of futuristic-looking cars, and eventually sired the Ioniq 5, Ioniq 6 and N Vision 74.
The 1970s concept car was destroyed and Hyundai has commissioned a rebuild of the original, with a little help from design royalty Giorgetto Giugiaro, who was responsible for it first time round.
The car will be shown at this weekend’s Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este upmarket car show in Lake Como, Italy.
Hyundai joined forces with GFG Style, a father-and-son design house founded by Giorgetto and Fabrizio Giugiaro.
‘The original Pony and Pony Coupe Concept were one of those rare creations that influenced the designs of not just one but multiple production and concept vehicles, including our award-winning Ioniq 5 and attention-grabbing N Vision 74,’ said Hyundai’s EVP SangYup Lee.
‘Since the original concept car (above) no longer exists, we’ve commissioned Giorgetto Giugiaro to rebuild it based on our design philosophy, “Shaping the future with legacy.”’
The rebuilt Pony Coupe is a scant 4080mm long, 1560mm wide and just 1210mm high. It’s a tiny slip of a car, explaining why it needs only a modest 1.2-litre four-cylinder engine producing 81bhp to get it going.
Commenting on the original design, Giugiaro senior said: ‘I designed the Hyundai Pony when I was still a young designer at the start of my career. I felt very proud that I was in charge of creating a vehicle for a company and country that was about to take on a fiercely competitive global market.
‘I’m deeply honoured that Hyundai has asked me to rebuild it for posterity and as a celebration of the brand’s heritage.’
Why didn’t the original Hyundai Pony coupe get built?
Although it was once green-lit for production, the Pony Coupe never made it to Europe or the North American market. The reason? The project was frozen in 1981 because of an adverse global economic environment. Pretty much the same as now, then.
The born-again Hyundai Pony Coupe concept is a centrepiece in the Hyundai Reunion event, designed to celebrate this young brand’s heritage. Seeing where the brand is heading now, it’s safe to say they’re going from strength to strength…