Leading his 80-year-old body, he returns to Korea and dreams a dream that was never fulfilled. It is the restoration of the Pony Coupe, which he designed in 1974.
Giorgetto Giugiaro. He is the Italian car designer who designed Hyundai’s first independent model, the Pony. Starting from the production of the Pony in 1973, he created a design system for Hyundai Motors over 20 years, producing significant models that would become part of Hyundai’s history.
On the 24th, Hyundai Motor held a talk show featuring Giorgetto Giugiaro at the Hyundai Motor’s Magok training center in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province. The talk show was hosted by Vice President Lee Sang-yeop, who is responsible for design at Hyundai Motor, and CEO Luc Donckerwolke, also in charge of design. Giorgetto Giugiaro was born in Italy in 1938 and has been dedicated to car design for 67 years, starting his special design work for Fiat vehicles in 1955.
In 1973, he received a request from the late Chairman Chung Ju-yung for car design after visiting Turin, Italy, and subsequently visited Hyundai’s Ulsan plant. During his visit to Ulsan, he witnessed ships being built at Hyundai Shipyard and felt Hyundai’s strong will, allowing him to accept the Chairman’s proposal. He immediately set to work with 50 vehicle technicians to start creating the car.
Just six months later, a prototype was completed, and the production of the exhibition car for the 1974 motor show began, leading to sales in 1975. It took just two years from production to commercialization. By creating the Pony, he accomplished remarkable work at the very first step, just as it began to walk.
He maintained a cooperative relationship with Hyundai for over 20 years, designing various models starting with the Pony. One notable model he designed was the Stella. The Stella, which was first launched in Korea in 1983, served as Hyundai’s first premium midsize sedan produced until 1997, expanding the segment into what are now the Grandeur and Genesis.
While Giugiaro designed the Pony, he also envisioned the Pony Coupe. However, due to the circumstances of the time, creating a coupe was impossible, and he faced technical limitations. The Pony Coupe remains an ill-fated model.
Giugiaro expressed his strong will regarding the restoration of the Pony Coupe, stating, “I meet the coupe that I lost again,” and emphasized that through restoration on a technical level, we will bring back the coupe that was once lost.
Lee Sang-jin daedusj@autodiary.kr