The Pony was also exported to Canada from 1983, but not to the United States because it did not pass federal emissions standards there (the Pony's successor model, the Excel, would be the first Hyundai car model to be sold in the United States). Canadian sales greatly exceeded expectations, and it was at one point the top-selling car in that market, as they were among the most inexpensive cars sold there. The Pony II was notorious for poor quality, although it afforded a much higher degree of quality and refinement in the lowest-price auto segment than the Eastern-bloc imports of the period then available, which helped Hyundai to get a foothold in that market.