The Hyundai Pony (Hangul: 현대 포니), is a small rear wheel drive automobile produced by the South Korean manufacturer Hyundai from 1975 until 1990. The Pony was South Korea's first mass-produced and exported car. The Pony nameplate remained in use until 2000 on some export versions of the Hyundai Excel and Accent. Background Hyundai had already ventured into car production by producing locally built versions of the Ford Cortina under licence from 1968. When the company wanted to develop their own car, they hired George Turnbull, the former managing director of Austin Morris at British Leyland in 1974. He in turn hired five other top British car engineers, Kenneth Barnett as body designer, engineers John Simpson and Edward Chapman, John Crosthwaite as chassis engineer and Peter Slater as chief development engineer. With Turnbull's experience with the Morris Marina, engines and transmissions from Mitsubishi, some parts from the Ford Cortina they were already producing, and a hatchback body styled by Italdesign Giugiaro, they developed the Hyundai Pony. First generation (1975) The Pony was presented as a coupe concept car 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 a pickup, although it differed from a typical pickup truck in that its cargo tray was integral with the body rather than being a separate assembly. A station wagon arrived in April 1977. In 1981, the small boot lid from the sedan was replaced by a liftable tail gate creating a new five-door liftback model. This was accompanied with a new three-door liftback. The Pony was loosely based on both the earlier licence-built Ford Cortinas and the Morris Marina, with former British Leyland engineers being hired by Hyundai to design the car. Hyundai began exporting the Pony to Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador and Egypt in 1976. European exports began in 1979 with Belgium and the Netherlands, with Greece added shortly thereafter. The pickup version was added in October that year, only available with the smaller, 1.2 liter, engine and a payload. The 1.2 L (1238 cc) four-cylinder engine claimed and the 1.4 L (1439 cc) produced . The 1.4 GLS was tested by the British car magazine Motor and top speed was 92 mph with acceleration from 0–60 mph in 15.3