Hyundai N Vision 74 To Enter Production After May 27 Debut: Report [UPDATE]
It’s happening, people. Or at least it seems that way.
The Hyundai N Vision 74 sports car concept instantly became one of the best-looking concept cars ever when it debuted last July. Soon, it may become one of the sharpest production cars too, as Korean media reports it'll spawn a production model that'll reportedly debut later this month, according to one outlet although another has thrown cold water on those plans.
Revealed last summer, the Hyundai N Vision 74 was a modernized callback to the 1974 Hyundai Pony Coupe concept. It was just a Giorgetto Giugaro design with a Hyundai badge slapped on it and was never produced, but it set the groundwork for Giugaro's later DeLorean DMC-12, and inspired the Hyundai Ioniq 5. And now, finally, a production car of its own, according to Korea's Money Today.
The outlet reports that Hyundai plans to reveal the production version of the N Vision 74 on May 27, at a "Pony Day" event held at its studio in Seoul. Its design is said to be penned by Fabrizio Giugiaro, son of the Pony Coupe's original designer, though not much is known about the production car beyond that.
Korean newspaper Wikitree reported May 8 that sources from within Hyundai say there are no plans for the car and refuted the report. A spokesperson from Hyundai in the U.S. said they were "in the dark" about the car and couldn't confirm or deny the report.
The concept generates 670 horsepower from two electric motors on the rear axle, which are powered by a combo of batteries and a hydrogen fuel cell. The lack of H2 infrastructure would make it hard to unlock the car's potential outside a few areas, so the PoNy or whatever it'll be called might use a more conventional drivetrain. That could mean pure electric power like in its existing Ioniq products, or a hybrid solution cannibalized from its RM19 prototype. It also might let Hyundai extract something from its canceled mid-engined sports car program.
Whatever form it takes, it'll be pleasing to see such a widely acclaimed design culminate in a production car. It also raises hopes that Kia or Genesis could develop versions of their own, too—though it's hard to imagine them holding a candle to what could be the hottest Korean car in history.
UPDATE (May 11): This story has been updated with another report refuting the car's launch later this month.
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