Containing Hyundai Motor Company's journey toward humanity and its warm gaze
Heritage Magazine 《RETRACE》

RETRACE, a heritage magazine that systematically archives the history of Hyundai Motor Company and provides inspiration for the future.
Using Hyundai Motor Company's monumental models as milestones, we look back on the past and examine the direction we must take in the era of electrification and the great transformation of future mobility.

PONY

Today, we don't take the sight of Olympic Boulevard and parking lots full of cars seriously.
In a time when it was unimaginable that every household would have a car, Hyundai Motor Company embarked on an unfamiliar journey, yearning for something "our own."
The Pony we developed in this way became our first car and the root of our technology, our systems, and the cars we make.

Pony, which naturally blended into our daily lives back then, now holds a place in our memories.
Hyundai Motor Company is brightening the future of mobility by inheriting the challenging spirit of the Pony.
『RETRACE』, a magazine that captures the heritage of the times, tells the story of the important values ​​we possess and want to preserve through our 'first car', the Pony.

HISTORY

Before sunrise
Deciding
There could not have been cars in the beginning.

It all started with the desire to live well.
In a time when the country was struggling to heal the wounds of war and become a prosperous nation, Hyundai Motor Company decided to develop its own model.
It was something no one had ever tried before.
(…)

When Hyundai Motor Company was founded, the number of registered automobiles in Korea was only about 60,000.
There are approximately 25 million cars registered in our country today.
Half of the population owns a car.
In a modern society where we feel the familiar fatigue of driving through congested roads every morning and evening and waiting in line at the entrance to crowded parking lots, what kind of dream does Hyundai Motor Company have?
What do we need to create to ‘live well’?

The birth of PONY's design
Design
Styling genius - Giorgetto Giugiaro

How was Pony's design created?
The new car company, which declared itself independent, decided to stake its fate on the success of its own model development project.
The first button was the designer.

The Pony is a model that left a spiritual and physical legacy to Hyundai Motor Company, and even today, nearly half a century after its unveiling at the 1974 Turin Motor Show, it continues to provide much inspiration for the design of new Hyundai vehicles.
I had a long conversation with Giorgetto Giugiaro, the car designer of the century.
From our first encounter with Hyundai Motor Company, to the Pony design story, and the outlook for automotive design in the era of the sharing economy.


Made in Korea
Overcoming
Our first car to cross the ocean

Nowadays, we can easily find our cars anywhere in the world, but looking back, exporting domestically produced cars overseas was a difficult challenge.
What a bold adventure it was to introduce our first car to the overseas automobile market.
Pony crossed the sea carrying the ambition of more people and a wider world.

PONY in numbers
Beginning
Pony by the Numbers

The launch of the Pony was a turning point in the history of Korean automobiles.
It played a leading role in the growth of the domestic passenger car market, which was in its infancy at the time, and helped make automobiles a major export item for South Korea, thereby elevating the status of the South Korean automobile industry.
Let's take a look at the success of the Pony, which laid the foundation for the Korean automobile industry.



NUSTORY

Family tine with PONY
Own
With a Brown Pony - Jung Woo-sung

A heart contained in a vessel called a car
A car is one of the most expensive consumer goods an individual can purchase.
There was something about the sense of accomplishment that came from Dad going out for his first drive with Pony.
For a young man who owned a home and also had a car, it meant that he had a certain level of social standing.
All that was left was growth.
It was a time when growth was a task for both individuals and nations.
In this flow, automobiles became a reflection of the times, a basis for achievement, and an object of sincere goals.
(…)

Therefore, attempts to define the identity of automobiles solely by the word “means of transportation” are futile.
Because that's not all.
A car is a vessel that contains one's tastes and lifestyle.
It is a living space such as a living room or study.
It is a diary where thoughts and memories accumulate, and it is also the basis of freedom and achievement.
Cars are still with us, with all these meanings still intact.
As a new and exciting companion that expands our lifestyle.
Just like Pony did for our family in the 1980s.



Dear my friend
Old Cars
To my old friend

Fate Comes at the Right Time - 1982 Pony II
Joo Yong-tae
“When they see Pony, most people give him a ‘thumbs up’ and say he’s cool, and they even chatter about it, saying, ‘When I was younger, I was like that~’
Seeing that made me happy too.
Isn't the appeal of old cars the joy they bring to others? Even though I'm just an ordinary person, I'm getting all this attention and getting interviews. I feel like I'm benefiting from the Pony."


My precious beloved first car
Experience
My first car, so precious and dear to me

What does your first car mean to you?
Try adding '차' after the word 'first'.
The first car that accompanied us through the ups and downs of social life, the first car that helped us get rid of our beginner driver's license, the first car we took our family on a trip with... These two syllables hold a special meaning for all of us.
It was the small, angular car, the Pony, that brought the concept to our country.
This is the car that appeared in the 1970s and made the people's dream of 'owning a car' come true.
Over 50 years later, with countless models carrying their own lives, how has the meaning of a first car changed? We asked those who, despite their diverse careers and backgrounds, chose a Hyundai as their first car.

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