Remembering the Pony, the first family car in Korea

WI SUNG-WOOK
The author is the Busan bureau chief of the JoongAng Ilbo.

In December 1975, as a Pony passed the final inspection line at the plant and came out on a conveyor belt, Hyundai Motor President Chung Se-yung and 50 developers and engineers hugged each other and shed tears. It was the moment of the first domestic production of a Korean model, eight years after Hyundai founder Chung Ju-yung founded Hyundai Motor in 1967. A member of the “Pony project” at the time recalled that it was the time when no one expected Korea to produce cars independently. “Even the government which promoted the export of Korean cars was surprised,” he said.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Pony, a domestic car model unveiled in 1974. Prior to its first production in 1975, the Pony was presented at the Torino International Motor Show in October 1974, and the global automobile industry was stirred. Korea, which had relied on imports entirely, produced cars with 90 percent domestic technology. From February 1976, the Pony began to be marketed at home and abroad.

Before producing the Pony, Hyundai imported the second-generation Cortina model from Ford Europe and produced them. Hyundai imported parts, assembled and sold them. But it was faced with problems. Most of the cars at the time were commercial vehicles, or taxis, but Cortina taxis frequently broke down. Ford’s solution was to not drive them on unpaved roads.

The Cortina was designed for the paved roads of the developed world, but as only about 20 percent of Korean roads were paved at the time, the Cortina was not suitable. Ford’s solution practically meant stopping operating the model.

That’s why Hyundai Motor started developing its own car models. With the launch of the Pony, Korea became the ninth country to launch its own car model. According to the Ulsan Museum, in the contest for the name of the car, Arirang was most popular. But because of the Arirang lyrics, which say “you will get sick before even going two miles,” the name was changed to the Pony.

Once marketed, the Pony was selling like hotcakes. The car was priced at 2 million won ($1,466) at the time, when a tile-roofed house in Heukseok-dong was sold at 2.5 million to 3 million won. In the first year of production, a total of 18,000 cars were sold, with an average of 1,500 cars a month. Until it went out of production in 1985, Pony played a key role in car ownership. It was also exported to more than 60 countries in Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Europe. The Ulsan Museum is hosting “The First National Car, Pony-themed Exhibition” until Sept. 20 to commemorate the car’s 50th anniversary. In Korea’s family month, it would be nice to see the first Korean car that has been called the “first family car.”