Hyundai teamed up with legendary Italian designer Giorgetto Giugiaro to recreate the unique Hyundai Pony Coupe Idea of 1974, an iconic present automobile designed by Giugiaro and which helped lay the groundwork for the arrival of the Pony sedan a yr later, South Korea’s first independently developed mass-produced automobile.

The idea was amongst 5 designs Giugiaro got here up with for Hyundai within the early Nineteen Seventies as a part of a authorities problem to develop a South Korean automobile in time for launch by 1975 (beforehand Korean automakers have been constructing vehicles of overseas automakers).

Whereas a sedan physique fashion was chosen because the winner, a manufacturing model of the Pony Coupe Idea was as a result of observe however the venture got here to a cease in 1981 as a result of an financial downturn. The automobile’s wedge-shape would stay on in one other Giugiaro design, nevertheless: the DeLorean DMC 12 that debuted in 1983.

Regardless of its significance, the unique Pony Coupe Idea now not exists. Hyundai hasn’t stated what truly occurred to it, however the automaker has recreated it in preparation for subsequent yr’s fiftieth anniversary of the unique unveiling on the 1974 Turin auto present. The idea is powered by a 1.2-liter inline-4 rated at 82 hp. The engine is mounted longitudinally, and drive goes to the rear wheels through a guide transmission.

The recreation was unveiled on Thursday on the inaugural Hyundai Reunion, which passed off at Italy’s Lake Como. The occasion is described as a “heritage model platform” that serves as a option to protect Hyundai’s spirit and values because the automaker transitions to a world of electrical mobility.

Additionally current was Giugiaro and his son Fabrizio. The 2 Giugiaros, who labored on the recreation, right now run the design agency GFG Model, which they began after promoting their remaining shares of their earlier design agency, Italdesign Giugiaro, to Volkswagen Group in 2015.

The collaboration between Hyundai and GFG Model may prolong past the recreation of the Pony Coupe Idea, based on Luc Donckerwolke, Hyundai Motor Group’s chief artistic officer.

“Not solely does this venture maintain historic worth, but it surely additionally represents a cross-cultural change that might pave the way in which for extra collaborations down the street,” he stated when the venture was first introduced final fall.