The Pony was presented at the Turin Motor Show in October 1974, and the car was introduced in December 1975 as a four-door sedan to compete with the Saehan Gemini and Kia Brisa. A coupé utility version was added in May 1976, which was called Pick-up. Technically, a pickup has a separate cargo tray while the Pony had it integrated in the body. A station wagon arrived in April 1977. In 1981, the small bootlid from the sedan was replaced by a hatchback creating a new five-door model. This was accompanied with a new three-door hatchback. The Pony was loosely based on the Morris Marina, with former British Leyland engineers being hired by Hyundai to design the car.