There are several brands that, driven by nostalgia, have decided to bring part of their past to the present: Hyundai has been the last to join this group. From the hand of the Italian design studio GFG Style (founded by Giorgetto Giugiaro and his son Fabrizio) they will resurrect a prototype that they presented in the seventies and whose production was canceled before starting: the Hyundai Pony Coupe Concept.
It’s been 48 years since its introduction at the 1974 Turin Auto Show, but it doesn’t seem like enough time to discourage Hyundai. The South Korean brand announced its plans for the Hyundai Pony Coupé: “We are delighted to welcome Giorgetto and Fabrizio to Seoul. We look forward to collaborating with them and GFG Style on this extraordinary design project. Not only does it have great historical value, it also represents a cultural exchange that it could pave the way for more collaborations in the future.”
The new Hyundai Pony Coupé Concept will be presented during the spring of 2023 and, before starting to dream, it is convenient to have our feet on the ground: we will not find the modern interpretation of this model in the brand’s dealerships because it will not be produced in series. There will only be a single unit that will replace the original one because it… no longer exists.
The original Hyundai Pony Coupe
The original idea for the Hyundai Pony Coupé Concept was hatched in the 1970s when Ju-Yong Chung, founder of Hyundai, attended the 1973 Frankfurt Motor Show and saw the Audi Asso di Picche, which Giorgetto Giugiaro had created for the Germans. A year later, the Italian designer received a commission from South Korea: at that time, the manufacturer did not yet have its own as its production was under license as was the case, for example, with the Ford Cortina.
Hyundai wanted to change that by developing its own vehicles. Thus, Giorgetto Giugiaro got down to work and presented five prototypes, one of which was a coupe. Indeed, the Hyundai Pony Coupe Concept arrived at the same time as the first car that was from the South Korean brand: the Hyundai Pony, ancestor of the Hyundai i30.
Source of inspiration
That prototype of geometric lines should have been transformed into a production version. They designed a roadmap for the Hyundai Pony Coupe that would take it to the European and North American and European markets, but The serious economic situation that the world was experiencing at the beginning of the eighties caused the project to be canceled before starting.
However, the Hyundai Pony Coupé has had an important role in the brand, since it influenced some later models: the Hyundai Ionic 5 and the prototype that its starting point (Concept 45) or the Hyundai N Vision 74 These are two examples of this… although not the only ones. And it is that Giorgetto Giugiaro was also inspired by him to design the DeLorean DMC-12.
