If you were planning to sit on the sidelines waiting to Hyundai to launch a production version of its wildly popular N Vision 74 concept vehicle, you might want to find something else.
There were numerous reports last week suggesting that the show car would go into production in the near future, most pointing to a supposed scoop by South Korean publication Money Today. It reported that there would be an announcement later this month at a “Pony Day” event at Hyundai’s South Korean headquarters.
It just isn’t going to happen, a U.S. Hyundai official told Carscoops. “There is no plan to mass produce the Pony Coupe, and there is no Pony Day event planned,” the official said.
“We are aware of media speculations on the potential commercial production of the N Vision 74 rolling lab development model,” the unnamed rep said. While “the heritage and spirit of Pony models have a lasting impact on the Hyundai Motor Co., we currently have no plan for a commercial production of the Pony Coupe Concept.”
What was going to happen …
The supposed plan to build an electric N Vision 74 came as quite a surprise considering just how different a direction it would have gone from where Hyundai has headed with other models for its all-electric Ioniq sub-brand. Based on the N Vision 74 concept unveiled last year, the futuristic pony car was to have a retro-futuristic design with ties to an early Hyundai concept vehicle — and a curious link to the movie “Back to the Future.”
Last year’s concept vehicle has a history dating back nearly a half century, borrowing heavily from the 1974 Pony concept developed by legendary Italian designer Giorgetto Giugiaro — who also penned the far less radical Pony hatchback. It was meant to show what the then-fledgling automaker could do with its first series model, the Pony.
Hyundai never put the coupe prototype into production. And Giugiaro went on to use the show car as influence for other products, including the DeLorean DMC-12 made famous in the “Back to the Future” trilogy. Ironically, the stainless steel-bodied sports car borrowed some of the Pony Coupe Concept’s more recognizable features, including the wedge nose and sweeping roofline.
“Please don’t say there’s a resemblance to the DeLorean, because we did it first,” Hyundai styling chief SangYup Lee said at the debut of the N Vision 74 last year.
Big impression
First revealed in July 2022, the N Vision 74 offset It’s classic, sharp lines with modern touches, including the pixelated headlights that are becoming a signature on electrified Hyundai models like the Ioniq 5. It added flared fenders, wide air intakes just behind the doors, a deep front splitter and a huge rear wing.
Along with the the RN22e, another radical show car revealed last summer, “N Vision 74 play(s) an important role in the strategic development of our entire product line-up, especially our electrified, high-performance vehicles,” Thomas Schemera, executive vice president and Hyundai’s Customer Experience Division chief, said at the time.
That comment clearly helped convince fans that a production model was in the works.
It’s still possible we could see a version of the N Vision 74 eventually wind up in showrooms. Hyundai officials are not completely ruling out that possibility.
In the meantime, Giugiaro’s original Pony concept has had at least a little bit of an influence on where Hyundai has gone in recent years. Fans of the show car are quick to highlight how some of its details have shown up in the South Korean brand’s Ioniq 5 model.