With the new Heritage Series Pony concept car, Hyundai can reflect on its rich legacy while working toward an exciting electrified future.
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On display now at Hyundai Motorstudio Busan in South Korea, the Heritage Series Pony concept integrates the retro look of the famous Hyundai Pony car with an array of sharp-looking modern details.
The Pony represented a huge milestone when it first came out in 1975. It was South Korea’s first mass-produced and exported vehicle, paving the way for the country’s — and Hyundai’s — current prominence in the global auto industry.
The hatchback exterior of the Heritage Series Pony concept preserves the vision of original Pony designer Giorgetto Giugiaro while adding a variety of attractive new touches. These include a silver matte finish and camera mirrors mounted on the front fenders. The twinned round headlights, daytime running lights, and U-shaped taillights show off a futuristic pixelated LED design.
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The interior looks to the past with a classic-looking door design and nifty instrument panel gauges made from lighted vacuum tubes. It also looks to the future with a voice-activated steering wheel, ambient lighting, a compartment for a smartphone, and digital touch transmission controls. A last-mile personal mobility device is tucked into a steel case and stashed in the trunk.
Hyundai didn’t release any details on Heritage Series Pony’s powertrain, and as a concept vehicle that’s mainly intended for display, it may not even have one installed. However, it’s definitely designed to look like a fully electric vehicle.
It’s highly unlikely that the Heritage Series Pony will ever be mass-produced like the original. That being said, many of the modern features it showcases could soon show up in Hyundai’s production vehicles. For example, the upcoming Ioniq 5 presents pixelated headlights very similar to the ones seen on the Pony concept.
To learn more about Hyundai’s current vehicles, future goals, and more, check out our ongoing coverage of the automaker here at The News Wheel.
A longtime editor/writer and recently transplanted Hoosier, Caleb Cook lives in Xenia, Ohio. His favorite activities are reading and listening to music, although he occasionally emerges from the heap of books and vinyl records in his basement to stand blinking in the sunlight. Once fully acclimated to the outside world again, he can be observed hanging out with his wife, attempting a new recipe in the kitchen, attending movies, walking the dog, or wandering into a local brewery to inquire about what’s on tap. See more articles by Caleb.