Hyundai Pony Heritage Becomes Design Studio Centerpiece

Matt Posky
by Matt Posky

While automotive enthusiasts have mixed opinions on the cultural clout of electric vehicles, there’s one aspect of electrification that’s undeniably cool — the resto-mod potential. Despite the historic appeal of driving around in vintage automobiles, they’re often painfully slow with ridiculously long braking distances and a lack of standard features many people living today would deem unacceptable. If you don’t believe me, select a random friend and ask them to parallel park a car without power steering or automatic transmission. Chuck in maintenance costs that are often well above average and it’s little wonder why so many Baby Boomers have been spending their retirement years outfitting the classic-era (or older) cars they grew up with with modern conveniences and components.

But we’ve also started seeing manufacturers (and even some intrepid entrepreneurs) taking the foundational concepts of resto-modding and adding electric propulsion. Some executions even seem to be pushing the boundaries of what we could effectively call automotive restoration, like Hyundai’s Pony Heritage EV.

Based on a first-generation Hyundai Pony hatchback (which the United States never saw), the Heritage utilizes a mystery electric powertrain and some new hardware without mucking up the Giorgetto Giugiaro/Italdesign bodywork. The car itself is supposed to be a tribute to Mr. Giugiaro and the brand’s first official product as much as it is a chance to show off what the current Hyundai design department can do — and it appears to be successful on all fronts.

Sadly, this makes it more of an art car (technically from the “Reflections in Motion” collection) than a conceptual design the manufacturer is mulling over for future production. The car has been completely gutted to make way for modern embellishments, with the interior getting a nearly complete overhaul. Rather than the traditional dashboard, Hyundai lead designer Hak Soo Ha directed staffers to install nixie tubes. While impractical, cathode displays could have made into production vehicles from the 1970s, assuming the manufacturer was unhinged enough to ignore their delicate nature.

Other upgrades include revamped upholstery and trim pieces, LED tail and headlamps, fender-mounted cameras (instead of mirrors), and some new bumpers, door pulls, and wheels.

According to Car & Driver, the Heritage EV has been serving as a focal point at one of Hyundai’s new design facilities in Busan, South Korea, and does double duty as a promotional tool for the Ioniq 5 — which was heavily inspired by the original Pony design that debuted at the 1974 Turin Motor Show. Despite the heavily doctored nature of the photographs, it’s a physical vehicle that can allegedly move under its own power.

Hyundai has made it clear that there’s no plan to put this thing into production, noting that the Ioniq 5 is already filling the space that a modern, regulations-compliant Pony EV would occupy. But we hope it serves to inform future automobiles, as this seems like the natural evolution of the modern-retro aesthetic that’s been catering to baby boomers (and those with an affinity for the classics) for over two decades.

While malaise era remakes don’t sound all that appetizing on paper, there’s a growing number of shoppers who grew up with (and now fetishize) digital displays or Speak & Spell vehicle notifications that are nearing their peak buying power. This old-meets-new, cyber vintage vehicle aesthetic could turn out to be wildly lucrative once more manufacturers realize there’s already a market for it.

[Image: Hyundai]

Matt Posky
Matt Posky

A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.

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  • Conundrum Conundrum on Apr 13, 2021

    The hood on this heritage Pony isn't even fitted straight and level. See pic three. Guess they really wanted to emulate the original Pony (rustbucket) Express. Its sales brother in Canada circa 1985 was the Hyundai Stellar, a decade old Ford Cortina underneath.

    • ToolGuy ToolGuy on Apr 13, 2021

      The hood was and is perfectly straight. The body has been twisted by the incredible torque of the EV powertrain. (True fact.) If you hold a polarizing filter in front of your screen and carefully study the third picture, you can see the torsional stress accumulating in the windshield glass. (Another true fact.)

  • Superdessucke Superdessucke on Apr 15, 2021

    I just wanted to say that this is pretty neat. Thumbs up.

  • Joe This is called a man in the middle attack and has been around for years. You can fall for this in a Starbucks as easily as when you’re charging your car. Nothing new here…
  • AZFelix Hilux technical, preferably with a swivel mount.
  • ToolGuy This is the kind of thing you get when you give people faster internet.
  • ToolGuy North America is already the greatest country on the planet, and I have learned to be careful about what I wish for in terms of making changes. I mean, if Greenland wants to buy JDM vehicles, isn't that for the Danes to decide?
  • ToolGuy Once again my home did not catch on fire and my fire extinguisher(s) stayed in the closet, unused. I guess I threw my money away on fire extinguishers.(And by fire extinguishers I mean nuclear missiles.)
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