Unique blend of old and new

Hyundai is celebrating the 35th birthday of the Grandeur with a fully-electric resto-mod that packs the boxy styling of the 80s original with cutting-edge tech, writes Damien O’Carroll.

Hyundai knows how to celebrate birthdays in style. Proper retro style, that is, if its latest anniversary celebration effort is anything to go by.

Having previously unleashed the awesome Pony Heritage Series (a fully-electric resto-mod of the classic 1975 Pony hatch), the company is celebrating the 35th anniversary of its 1986 Grandeur flagship sedan by doing the same awesome retro-futuristic restomod EV thing to the brilliantly boxy luxury sedan.

Hyundai says it developed the Heritage Series Grandeur to ‘‘shed light on the original sedan’s symbolic significance and find new inspiration for future designs’’.

Given that the Ioniq 5 was heavily influenced by the Pony and the 1974 Pony Coupe concept, it makes sense that Hyundai is giving the resto-mod EV treatment to a few more of its classic designs to give us a taste of what may be coming down the pipeline, as it has already proven itself to be keen on the idea of using its older designs as inspiration for its EVs.

Hyundai’s design team reinterpreted the first-generation Grandeur as an all-electric car with the ‘‘Parametric Pixel’’ exterior lighting that is a distinctive feature of the Ioniq 5 production model playing a big part on the outside.

And like the Pony Heritage Series, the company’s designers have brilliantly blended retro styling with modern tech on the interior. In this case an ultramodern interior wrapped in burgundy velvet and Napa leather.

Yes, burgundy velvet. . .

On the outside the Heritage Series Grandeur gets new side mirrors, covered wheels, slide cladding and the pixel-style LED headlights and tail lights.

And for the interior, Hyundai says its designers applied a ‘‘Newtro’’ (‘‘newness’’ and ‘‘retro’’) concept theme to ‘‘stimulate passengers’ senses’’, using bronze-coloured lighting that is reminiscent of period audio equipment and a modern audiophile sound system to match.

The front seats are rather awesomely finished in burgundy velvet – inspired by the original Grandeur, of course – with stitched and laced auburn Napa leather on the back.

The centre console armrest contains a hidden pop-out compartment for storing valuables.

The original dials and buttons on the dashboard were replaced with an ultra-wide, touchscreen display, but maintained the 80s vibe with a single-spoke steering wheel and a rather fantastic jet airplane-style gear selector.

The Grandeur also features a ‘‘4way4’’ sound system developed by South Korean sound designer Guk-il Yu.

The system controls the 18-speakers and delivers ‘‘rich sound with magnificent clarity and deep bass’’ thanks in part to the composition of Grandeur’s centre console and dashboard, which are designed based on concert hall acoustic theory.

And just to emphasise the ‘‘concert hall’’ vibe, the soundbar features a piano function that can be played through the audio system when the vehicle is in park.

Having reimagined its 1975 Pony and 1986 Grandeur as EV concepts, Hyundai says its designers will ‘‘continue to rediscover the values of the brand through the Heritage Series’’.

‘‘As our designers conceive the future, it’s important to look back on what we’ve created in the past and find inspiration in it,’’ said Hak-soo Ha, of the Hyundai Design Centre.

‘‘With the Heritage Series Grandeur, our designers have reinterpreted an important part of Hyundai’s history as a wonderfully unique blend of vintage and contemporary that reflects the boundless possibilities of our EV era.’’

Of course, that statement about looking back on what Hyundai created in the past might seem like it is stretching things a bit thin with the original Grandeur, as it was a rebadged second-generation Mitsubishi Debonair.

But the secret to that is that the Debonair and Grandeur were a collaboration between Hyundai and Mitsubishi. Hyundai was in charge of the styling, and Mitsubishi did the mechanicals.

As with the Pony Heritage Series, Hyundai makes no mention of the Grandeur’s EV componentry, but we would assume it repurposes the Ioniq 5’s batteries and motors in some way.

Of course, Hyundai will never put a Heritage Series Pony or Grandeur into production, but that doesn’t stop us desperately wanting one anyway.