First Hyundai Hatchback

The Hyundai Pony (Hangul: 현대 포니), is a small automobile produced by the South Korean manufacturer Hyundai from 1975 until 1990. [2] The Pony was South Korea's first mass-produced [3] and exported car. Hyundai's long journey to becoming the third-largest automaker in the world began with the Pony.

Here's its story. It was Hyundai's first front-wheel-drive car. Styled by Giorgetto Giugiaro of Italdesign, the Excel was available as a three- or five-door hatchback and a four-door sedan, and was the first Hyundai to be exported to the United States.

In 1985 however, America got their first Hyundai, the Hyundai Excel. Like all 1980s cars, it was small, boxy, and economical, but what stood out about the Hyundai was the price point and the design. Today, Hyundai offers radically designed cars at an economical price.

Hyundai's first mass-produced car, the Pony, was a compact hatchback that paved the brand's entry into global markets. Designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro of Italdesign, it combined Italian styling with Japanese technology from Mitsubishi. The first real Hyundai was the Giugiaro.

The Pony Hyundai's debut model was a compact hatchback that looks very similar to the Volkswagen Scirocco that debuted just a year earlier at the 1973 Geneva Motor Show. Body styles where reduced to just a five door hatchback with a two door pickup in available in some markets. In 1984 Hyundai brought the Pony to Canada where it was a hit in the low priced segment populated previously by East European cars.

Here's an extraordinarily rare first-year Excel GL four-door hatchback, spotted in a Phoenix self. Today, Hyundai is a powerhouse automaker with real enthusiast cred. That story began here-the sad, underwhelming Pony, the first Korean car exported to Canada.