The electric Hyundai Ioniq 5 is obviously topped with a retro sauce that should refer to the first Hyundai Pony. As if the brand wants to say that reference could be a bit clearer, it now comes with the Pony EV Heritage.
Hyundai has been with us for so long that the brand dares to fall back on its own past. It did this earlier with the Hyundai 45 Concept, which, with its shape and name, harked back to the Pony Coupé Concept launched 45 years earlier. The production version of that car is called Ioniq 5, but with its design and introductory version ‘Project 45’ also explicitly refers back to those early beginnings.
With the Hyundai Pony EV Heritage, however, Hyundai takes it a step further. The EV Heritage does not refer to the first Pony, but is such a Pony. Hyundai’s first own model, however, has been thoroughly modernized for the occasion. The car is equipped with an unspecified electric powertrain and has relatively large wheels, modern looking bumpers in body color and LED lighting all around. In fact, the rear lights are clearly related to those of the Ioniq 5 and have the same structure of separate, square elements.
The original: the first Hyundai Pony
The interior is very special. The sleek design is somewhat similar to that in the much-praised Pony Coupe Concept from 1974, but otherwise the whole looks mainly modern. The instrumentation seems to consist of warm-lit light bulbs and the seats would not look out of place in a ‘restomod’ on a Mustang or Porsche basis. Between the seats is a modern-looking console with a large cup holder. The round elements on the door panels are not explained in more detail, but appear to be a modern interpretation of the ‘window pendulum’ phenomenon.
Hyundai Pony Coupe Concept (1974)
Of course, the Hyundai Pony EV Heritage is nothing more than an exercise of the design department, so don’t expect to actually order it anytime soon.