Hyundai’s N Vision 74 Concept Bridges the Future and the Past

I must admit, Hyundai is not an automotive company I immediately think of when I consider the subject of pleasing and inspiring concepts, but that has perhaps been a mistake. Hyundais’ hydrogen fuel cell powered N Vision 74 is not only memorably named (a feat in itself), but it has memorable looks as well.

The Hyundai design team, fronted by SangYup Lee, has produced here a homage to the Hyundai Pony Coupe concept designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro of Italdesign in 1974. The Pony had all the slightly awkward angles and lines of a classic 1970s sports car, from a period in the seventies when designers were collectively trying to – perhaps unfortunately in retrospect – shake off the curvy shackles of the previous decade and come up with something new. Without the advantage of hindsight, a designer in any field can never know what will become timeless and what will date a design firmly to the year it was created, and the Hyundai Pony looks pure 1970s. Incidentally, the first thought that entered my mind when I saw the profile of the Pony was ‘DeLorean’. I had put that thought aside, but then I found out that Giugiaro would later go on to be the person that would design the DMC DeLorean; so there you have it – don’t always dismiss your first impressions…

These days we have come to rethink how we look at seventies design, from architecture to furniture, to art, and with fresh eyes there’s something rather fetching about the Pony’s lines and angles, so the arrival of the warm LED lit Hyundai N Vision 74 concept was an exciting proposition. Lee and team have managed to use the Pony’s strengths in the angles and paired that retro template with a modern touch that compliments the overall look in a wonderful way. The result reminds me of the current trend for watch brands to subtly reinvent classic pieces from the past for modern editions. While the Pony might look like a period piece, the N Vision 74 looks like it needs to head straight to production.

Hyundai says that the N Vision 74 is designed around balancing the car’s aerodynamics with the ability to cool the parts that need cooling. The optimised heat management system allows for track use, with individual cooling for each battery and stack. Inside, the percentage of retro to modern is carried over in the way the cockpit has been put together. It has very clearly been designed with the Pony concept at the forefront, but of course with modern aesthetics – blending heritage elements with modern design as Hyundai eloquently puts it.

On a practical level, the N Vision 74 can be refuelled up to 80 percent of capacity in just 5 minutes, and aside from the hydrogen aspect, the concept features a 62.4kWh battery and is capable of 800V charging. The N Vision 74 also has a range of around 372 miles and provides 900Nm of torque at the rear wheels and offers up a maximum speed of around 155mph.

Lee has described the Hyundai N Vision 74 as a ‘rolling lab’; a concept car that can offer Hyundai’s designers an insight into the direction the company should be taking in the future, and as such, we can’t ever rule out that some of the highly visually pleasing aspects of the N Vision 74 won’t come to some sort of fruition on a Hyundai production model in the future.

Images: hyundai-n.com