Hyundai Motor is tying up with Italian designer Giorgetto Giugiaro to bring back the 1974 Pony Coupe Concept

Seoul-based automaker Hyundai Motor Company is working with Italian design firm GFG Style—led by father and son duo Giorgetto and Fabrizio Giugiaro—to rebuild the 1974 Pony Coupe Concept that was launched at the Turin Motor Show. According to the company, the concept design also served as a huge source of inspiration for Giugiaro’s work on the DeLorean DMC 12 that debuted in 1983 and was famously used in the ‘Back to the Future’ movies (1985-90).

“We are absolutely thrilled to welcome Giorgetto and Fabrizio to Seoul for this rare occasion and we look forward to collaborating with them and GFG Style on this extraordinary design project,” said CCO Luc Donckerwolke. “Not only does this project hold historical value, but it also represents a cross-cultural exchange that could pave the way for more collaborations down the road,” he added.

As the story goes, in 1974, when Hyundai Motor was still in its early days of vehicle production, the company’s executives contacted Giorgetto Giugiaro to propose work on designing Hyundai’s first independent model and Korea’s first mass-produced car. “At the time, there was no vehicle design and styling capability in Korea, so Hyundai Motor commissioned Giugiaro to design, make blueprints and build five prototypes, one of which was a coupe. In the process of designing and prototyping, Hyundai decided to show the Pony and Pony Coupe at the Turin Motor Show to promote the brand’s debut in the global market,” the company 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. Now, I’m deeply honored that Hyundai has asked me to rebuild it for posterity and as a celebration of the brand’s heritage,” Giugiaro said about his original design. 

Known for its wedge-style nose, circular headlamps and origami-like geometric lines, the Pony Coupe was intended for North American and European markets, but the project came to a stop in 1981 just before mass production amid adverse global economic environment. It helped kickstart the Korean automotive industry by directly influencing Hyundai’s first independent production models under its Pony nameplate, which ran from 1975 to 1990 and were sold around the world.
 
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. In 2021, Hyundai reinterpreted the original Pony production car as a restomod electric vehicle concept. And, in 2022, Hyundai nodded to the coupe concept yet again with its crowd-pleasing N Vision 74 hydrogen-hybrid ‘rolling lab’ development vehicle.

“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 EVP SangYup Lee. “Since the original concept car no longer exists, we've commissioned Giorgetto Giugiaro to rebuild it based on our design philosophy, ‘Shaping the future with legacy,'" he added.

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