Hyundai Motor is recreating Pony Coupe after five decades

Industry

Published: 24 Nov. 2022, 16:52

Hyundai Motor is recreating Pony Coupe after five decades

Italian car designer Giorgetto Giugiaro, left, poses with Hyundai Motor's Pony, along with Luc Donckerwolke, chief creative officer of Hyundai Motor, and Lee Sang-yup, executive vice president and head of Hyundai Motor’s Global Design Center, at a press event Thursday in Yongin, Gyeonggi. [HYUNDAI MOTOR]

Hyundai Motor’s famous Pony Coupe will be resurrected after five decades.

Giorgetto Giugiaro, the legendary Italian car designer who helped create the iconic Pony sedan in 1974 — the model that put Korean car-making on the map — is part of the team bringing it back.

The Pony Coupe was the high-performance sports car version of the Pony, Korea’s first domestically-developed rear-wheel drive vehicle. The prototype of the coupe was introduced at the Turin Motor Show in 1974.

A new concept car will be developed sometime in the spring.

“The original Pony and Pony Coupe were those rare creations that influenced the designs of many Hyundai vehicles and concept vehicles, including the Ioniq 5,” said Lee Sang-yup, executive vice president and head of the Hyundai Design Center, during a press event held in Yongin, Gyeonggi, on Thursday.

“Since the original concept car no longer exists, we've commissioned Giugiaro to rebuild it," Lee said. "The concept car will be the standard and icon of Hyundai Motor for the next 50 years."

Hyundai had big dreams for the coupe in the 1970s. With its wedge-style nose, circular headlamps and origami-like geometric lines, the Pony Coupe was planned to be mass-produced and sold in the U.S. and Europe. But the project was halted in 1981 due to a global economic slump.

The prototype of the Pony Coupe, which was first introduced in 1974. [HYUNDAI MOTOR]

“The late founder Chung Ju-yung came to see me in Italy and asked me to design Hyundai’s first independent model,” Giugiaro told reporters during the event.

“I designed the Hyundai Pony and Pony Coupe when I was still a young designer at the start of my career, and 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,” said Giugiaro.

“Now, I’m deeply honored that Hyundai has asked me to rebuild it for posterity and as a celebration of the brand’s heritage.”

Starting with Pony, Giugiaro designed various Hyundai models in the automaker's early days, including the Excel, Accent, Stellar and Sonata.

Giugiaro is now CEO of GFG Style.

Many Hyundai vehicles have been inspired by the Pony and Pony Coupe.

In 2019, Hyundai Motor took inspiration from the original Pony for the 45 concept car, which directly influenced the Ioniq 5, which debuted two years later. Recently, Hyundai released an N Vision 74 concept car, its first hydrogen-powered sports car.

The Pony Coupe also served as a source of inspiration for Giugiaro’s work on the DeLorean DMC 12 that debuted in 1983 and was used in the "Back to the Future" films (1985-90).

“Pony Coupe is our heritage and icon, and restoring it is more important than anything,” Lee said. “Customers may have different views of it, but having the standard is essential for Hyundai to grow further."