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Why did you automatically love the new Hyundai concept? Italian design. An Italian car cut from the same cloth. And the last Citroën Cityrama.

Kudos to the Hyundai design studios who helped bring the ’70s to life. For the third time in recent memory.

In 2019, Hyundai showed the concept IONIQ5, called 45 EV, which amped up the same styling themes that Italdesign used for the original Pony hatchback design sketches. Hyundai followed this up with a Pony Heritage EV concept, a riff on its first production model. For its N Vision 74 concept, Hyundai has done it again.

Astute viewers noticed the obvious visual connection with Giorgetto Giugiaro’s “Asso di…” series of concepts at Italdesign.

I put together the gif above to show how seemingly disparate designs, from the DeLorean to Lancia Delta Intergrale, can borrow from the same source material. And why not? It works.

This time, designers took Giugiaro’s mid-engine Pony concept and buffed it enough to compete in the 1980 Fuji Grand Championship Series. The Pony concept is terrific source material, don’t doubt it—and Hyundai’s N Vision 74 concept seems universally loved.

But there’s a reason your brain has been conditioned to instantly love it: other automakers borrowed elements for their designs also, such as the diverging lines when viewed in profile. These, plus racing models and even retrofuture renders on the DeLorean, Lancia Delta Intergrale, and Audi Quattro, were originally all inspired by the same three Italian suits first tailored by Giugiaro: ♠︎, ♦︎ and ♣︎.

“Man, I really want a Hyundai!” said many people for the first time ever. • @jonnylieberman

“This thing looks gnarly, from hectic box flares to turbofans to a very angry set of pixel daytime running lights. It’s a hard-edged lit-up anti-hero car for whatever cyberpunk dystopia eventually caves in our front doors with size 14 boots” • Thomas Hundal @ theautopian.com

“Someone over @hyundaiusa is paying attention.”             • @the_simple_machine

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