Hyundai Motor Company’s Pony Coupe Concept, recreated by GFG Style, made its world premiere on May 18 - nearly 50 years after its original debut - in Lake Como, Italy.
The concept car, originally unveiled at the 1974 Turin Motor Show, was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro and became an important vehicle in the company’s history and design heritage: it helped awaken an appreciation for innovative design principles at the company during its early days, and so it has served as a significant influence on the design direction of its current and future endeavors. The Pony Coupe Concept is now considered a retro-futuristic classic that has served as design inspiration for the more recent Hyundai Motor models.
Giorgetto Giugiaro said of the original Pony Coupe Concept’s development in 1973: “Hyundai approached us to start a complete redesign of a model, without much experience. I was skeptical at first because I didn’t know Hyundai Motor at that time. We were all impressed by the passion and commitment of the Hyundai engineers. They were sharp, curious, open and extremely eager to learn.
They immediately embraced the working methods that were new to them. They sacrificed themselves to make a good impression — for company and their partners. I’m proud and honored to witness how this company has evolved since we first met.
Hyundai Motor unveiled the rebuilt Pony Coupe Concept at the inaugural Hyundai Reunion in Lake Como, Italy, an event that brings together past and present company officials and designers, including original designer Giorgetto Giugiaro & his son Fabrizio Giugiaro, long time designer himself, to signal the previously announced restoration of the car that led to the creation of the brand’s seminal Pony line-up, Korea’s first independently developed mass-production models.
Giorgetto Giugiaro and Euisun Chung (Executive Chair of Hyundai Motor Group)
GFG Style, under the guidance and supervision of Fabrizio Giugiaro, harnessed the resources and technologies of its style center for a somewhat different goal than usual: not to design new, neverbefore-seen dream cars, but to recreate a vintage model whose original prototype has unfortunately been lost: starting with drawings and technical diagrams from the period, archival photos and a Hyundai chassis, it was possible to make a journey through time, and bring a vehicle swallowed up by the past back into the present.
The Pony Coupe Concept’s sharp-lined exterior features flowing geometric lines, a sleek roofline, pure unadorned surfaces, dynamic proportions, a uniquely shaped B pillar. It boasts an extremely graphic surface treatment with bumpers painted in body color. Its wedge-shaped snout and circular headlamps distinguished it in 1974 and still look ultra-stylish today. Its coda tronca (‘cut-off tail’) has a slim hatch to provide access to the back of the car. The minimalist interior showcases an iconic sensibility highlighting the monocoque design and driver-centered floating architecture. A single-spoke steering wheel and twotoned slim-line bucket seats reinforce what was in the 1970s a futuristic aesthetic.