Conflicting evidence, messy reporting, and silence from Hyundai leave this supposed supercar’s existence uncertain.
The debacle began when Korean outlet Money Today reported a production version of the Hyundai Pony Coupe-inspired concept would drop at a “Pony Day” event in Seoul on May 27. However, another Korean publication, newspaper conglomerate Wikitree, says Hyundai told it “there is no plan to mass-produce the Pony Coupe, and there is no [May 27] Pony Day event planned.”
That sounds clear-cut, but when we contacted Hyundai USA for clarity, the picture blurred again. Hyundai’s spokespeople couldn’t comment on whether the N Vision 74 will reach production, saying: “We’re totally in the dark about that.” If even parts of Hyundai don’t know, then all we can do is speculate—and the available evidence only makes that more difficult.
Over the years, Hyundai has put concept cars into production pretty consistently. The Santa Cruz, Ioniq 5, and Ioniq 6 are all recent examples of concept cars made real, and an Ioniq 7 SUV is expected to follow in their footsteps. But it’s not a rock-solid record, as demonstrated by the more restomod-like Heritage Series concepts with the Pony Coupe and Grandeur—both bought-in designs. The former came from Giugiaro, and the latter was a rebadged Mitsubishi.
Hyundai N Vision 74 concept. Hyundai
There are also issues with the business case for the Pony Coupe’s spiritual successor, especially one as technically advanced as the N Vision 74. Hyundai recently canceled a mid-engined sports car—one designed to fit an ICE or a hydrogen fuel cell like the N Vision 74—for being too pricey. It also tested mid-mounted ICE drivetrains in a series of Veloster-based mules, but if there isn’t money to be made from the ICE model, then there’s no hope for a more niche hydrogen car.
Then there’s the question of accuracy at the Korean outlets that dispute this high-performance Hyundai’s existence. Business and financial outlets like Money Today tend to be conservative with their reporting, though their story is at times fuzzy on the details, while Wikitree meanwhile is more of a general-interest paper. Neither appears to cover automotive industry news closely, but it’s likely the former would be better connected—though there’s no discounting the weight of the latter’s reportedly official statement from Hyundai.
For now, all we have is a mess of conflicting evidence, both suggesting the Hyundai N Vision 74 Pony-thing will be made, and that it won’t. Only official word from Hyundai will settle this, even if it means confirming the cat’s out of the bag. That is, if there’s even a cat in the first place, because it sounds like it may have already been put down. Schrödinger’s Hyundai, everyone.
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