Hyundai Motor seeks to recover legacy of Pony
Hyundai Motor is celebrating its legacy by introducing a new project to rebuild its original Pony Coupe Concept car as presented at the 1974 Turin Motor Show, the company said Thursday.
The Pony Coupe Concept was designed by Italian designer Giorgetto Giugiaro, who is cooperating with the company almost 50 years later to restore the concept car. Though the concept model was unveiled at the motor show, it never reached the mass production stage and Hyundai Motor actually seemed to have misplaced the car for unknown reasons and could no longer locate it.
The Italian designer had worked with the Korean company for a long time, designing the Pony, Hyundai Motor’s first independent production model that was produced from 1975 to 1990, and other car models such as the Pony Excel, the Presto, the Stellar and the first two generations of the Sonata.
To rebuild the Pony Coupe Concept car, Hyundai Motor said it will collaborate with GFG Style, an Italian design company founded by Giugiaro, now 84. Hyundai Motor said the concept model had a great influence in car design and it expects the company can rebuild its legacy through the restoration project.
“The original Pony and Pony Coupe Concept were 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 Lee Sang-yup, senior vice president of Hyundai Motor and head of Hyundai Global Design Center.
“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.’”
The restoration project is also planned to shed light on Chung Ju-yung, the automotive group’s founding chairman who contributed to the development of the Korean economy by developing the group’s own car model.