Hyundai reinvents original Pony as slick retro tribute

One-off take on Giugiaro’s angular hatchback blends modern and old-school touches

Hyundai has revealed a modern reconstruction of its seminal 1970s hatchback, the Pony, using elements of its most up-to-date technology and design language.

Created by storied car designer Giorgetto Giugiaro, the original Pony was Korea’s first mass-produced and exported car when it debuted in 1975 - and is remembered today as a landmark car for the country and Hyundai.

The Pony has also had more recent importance for the company: it was a defining influence on the first car to be rolled out under Hyundai’s new Ioniq electric sub-brand, the Ioniq 5, and, before that, the 45 concept car.

Created for display in Hyundai’s recently opened Motorstudio Busan in South Korea, the revived Pony is characterised by its retro, angular silhouette, and is finished in matte silver.

While the design is distinctively old school and the silhouette unchanged from the original, the recreation sports modern technology, including camera-based mirrors, digital touch transmission and the same pixelated round head- and rear-lights that are found on the Ioniq 5.

More radical modernisation work has been undertaken inside, where a simple aluminium-style dashboard and featureless centre console hint at more modern underpinnings.

Most notable, perhaps, is that the instrument panel uses ‘nixie tubes’ - illuminated vacuum cylinders - rather than a conventional clock or dial set-up, and that the Pony is equipped with a scooter-style ‘last-mile mobility device’ stowed in the boot.

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