The archive · Marketing & Growth · Product decision · 2021–2024
Hyundai rebuilds its 1975 Pony as an electric heritage icon
Hyundai disassembles an actual 1975 Pony and rebuilds it as an EV with pixel lights and Nixie-tube gauges — IDEA 2024 Gold for the heritage project.
Hyundai Motor Company
What it had to solve
The Pony was Korea's first mass-produced car and the foundation of Hyundai's identity, but by 2021 it belonged to history. Hyundai opened its Motorstudio Busan customer center and wanted a centerpiece that connected the brand's past to its electric future.
How it works
The Pony, launched in December 1975, was Korea's first mass-produced car and the foundation of Hyundai's identity — but by 2021 it was history. When Hyundai opened its Motorstudio Busan customer center, the design team wanted a centerpiece that connected the company's past to its electric future.
Rather than building a retro-styled homage, interior design chief Hak Soo Ha led a rebuild of an actual first-generation Pony: the car was disassembled and reassembled on a new electric powertrain, keeping the original Giugiaro silhouette while adding camera-based mirrors, pixelated head and tail lights, a Nixie-tube instrument panel, digital touch transmission and a voice-activated steering wheel. The studio described the philosophy as 'shaping the future with legacy.'
The Heritage Series PONY became the studio's centerpiece, and its pixel lighting became a signature carried into the IONIQ 5. The heritage project was later documented in the Retrace Collection Book 'PONY,' which won IDEA 2024's Curator's Choice Award and Gold in Branding, while the broader Heritage PONY Project also took IDEA 2024 Gold.
Why it lands
- Using a real 1975 Pony rather than a lookalike made the project an act of preservation, not costume design.
- The original car was built by hand and rebuilt by hand — the disassembly and reassembly made the heritage tangible.
- Retro elements like Nixie-tube gauges were paired with future-facing tech, creating a coherent past-and-future story.
- The pixel lights introduced on the concept became a design signature carried into production EVs like the IONIQ 5.
- Documenting the work in the Retrace Collection Book extended the idea from one car into a lasting brand archive.
What it did
The Heritage Series PONY became the centerpiece of Motorstudio Busan, and its pixel lighting became a signature later carried into the IONIQ 5. The project and its Retrace Collection Book 'PONY' took IDEA 2024 Gold in Branding, with the book also winning the Curator's Choice Award.
What you can take
Heritage can be a design material: rebuild the original rather than a homage, and let the brand's history generate the details — pixels, textures, rituals — that flow into future products.
Since then
The Heritage Series PONY anchored Motorstudio Busan and helped establish Hyundai's heritage program. Its pixel lighting influenced the IONIQ 5's identity, and Hyundai later commissioned Giorgetto Giugiaro to rebuild the never-produced Pony Coupe Concept, unveiled at the 2023 Hyundai Reunion. In 2024 the Heritage PONY Project won IDEA Gold in Branding and its Retrace Collection Book 'PONY' took IDEA's Curator's Choice Award, one project per year regardless of category.
Sources
- Hyundai unveils the next generation Heritage Series Pony
- Hyundai Motor Triumphs at IDEA 2024 with Multiple Gold, Bronze and Curator's Choice Award Wins
- Hyundai remakes old Pony into an EV
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