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Hyundai 45 Concept: Retro-inspired EV teased for Frankfurt

The Hyundai 45 concept gives us a hint as to what future electric vehicles from the brand will look like. 


It’s set to be unveiled at the Frankfurt motor show on September 10, but Hyundai has released a single teaser photo ahead of the concept’s debut.

The concept’s name commemorates the 45th anniversary of the first car to wear the Hyundai badge, the 1975 Pony. Before the Pony, the Hyundai Motor Company built Ford Cortinas under licence.

Though the Pony was an utterly conventional small car using mostly borrowed Mitsubishi mechanicals, it wore contemporary styling penned by Giorgetto Giugiaro at Italdesign.

The rear of the 45 appears to pay homage to the Pony with a steeply-raked fastback tail and, like early Pony sedans, a full-width tail-light panel. In a lot of ways the 45 concept looks to be a similar approach to  that of Honda with the Urban EV concept, itself inspired by the original Civic, which spawned the 'E' electric vehicle.

It’s thoroughly modern, however, with a funky dot-matrix style LED array, plenty of sharp angles and an additional lighting display on the bumper that reads “45”.

The 45 wears an evolution of Hyundai’s Sensuous Sportiness design language, of which the upcoming 2020 Sonata sedan will be the first production car recipient. If the Sonata is any indication, future Hyundai EVs will look a lot more adventurous than today’s handsome yet conservative Ioniq.

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