[ChiragM]

We often see car manufacturers pouring money to develop new concept cars, most of which may never see the road. Concepts can be an exterior design study, and they could showcase futuristic interior designs as well. While many are static displays, some have powertrains from existing cars. Some test out a new powertrain as well.

As most of these cars never make it to the road, I wondered why car makers bother to spend so much money to build these cars. Here are a few reasons why concept cars make sense.

@BHPians, please add on to the list.

Spark creativity

Concept cars spark creativity among designers. Usually, there are no technical restraints on the design and designers can come with a car as they imagine it to be. Production cars have limitations to their design (like height of headlamps) to meet certain safety rules.

Innovation

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Manufacturers use concept cars to test out new technologies that may eventually make their way to production cars. It provides a road map for technical research and also accelerates the development. Technologies like hybrid powertrains were first showcased in concept cars that never made it to production. The car shown here is the Prius concept.

Get feedback on future design trends

Car makers use concept cars to get feedback on the design and technologies. It also acts as a part of market research when a company is planning to bring out a new product. Gauging public reaction will tell the designers if they can go ahead with the design or if it needs to be changed. It tells designers what works and what does not.

Gives manufacturer something newsworthy

Car makers take every opportunity to make it to the news section of automotive websites and magazines. Concept cars will give them the publicity they need and also to stay relevant in the competing market.

Designers enjoy it and get a lot of satisfaction

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Give designers a free hand without any limitations and ask them to go wild with their imagination. They will definitely enjoy the work given and take pride in it.

Makes the exhibition stall look better

Sometimes, there may be no new product for a company to showcase at an Auto Expo. Concept cars can help draw in more people by adding a bit of flair to the stand.

Can show what the company is capable of

It is an opportunity to show the company's loyal followers as well as investors the direction the company is heading and their capabilities as well in both design and new technologies. It will help keep them interested in the brand.

Can be used as movie cars

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Added publicity for the company. Concept cars are sometimes used in movies as well. These include Aston Martin DB10 used in the movie Spectre and the i8 Concept used in Mission Impossible. This kind of publicity comes cheap for the car makers as well. It is said that Lotus gave four cars for a James Bond movie, one of which was able to act as a submarine. Lotus did not get any payment for that but it is said that it was cheaper than getting a centrefold ad in the Times.

Cost lesser for a study

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Although they are not cheap, it is more economical for a carmaker to use these concept cars to study the market response. It is cheaper to make this and scrap the project if they feel its not worth it than to build a production model which would turn into a flop.

Establish reputation of designers

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Just like designers in the fashion industry come up with strange designs for fashion shows that help them make a name for themselves, concept cars are used by car designers to build their own reputation.

Change brand image

Say a company wants to start doing something that they have never done before, it could be a new product or a new type of vehicle, concepts can be used to slowly change the brand image and brand perceptions. Some carmakers could improve their image as well. For example, the Lexus Spindle grille was first shown on a concept car and it helps change the image of Lexus from a company that builds boring cars to a company that builds sporty cars.

Change trend in automotive design

Concept cars usually bring something new to the table and if it clicks, the new design element could be carried over to the production car. Some of these new elements maybe a hit and might make other carmakers sit up and take notice. Slowly it could filter to other car makers as well. The Audi R8 was the first car to get all-LED headlights, which were previewed in the Le Mans Quattro concept.

Raise the bar and compete harder

The industry is going through major changes in mobility now with the advent of electric cars and autonomous cars. Concepts testing these new waters encourage car makers to push each other to develop new design themes and new technologies as well.

Sometimes affects reviews of the car as well

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The Lexus LC is a prime example to show why concept cars are important. The car started life as the LF-LC Concept. Everyone loved the new design and it won an award as well. This prompted Lexus to build the Lexus LC Coupe, which looks largely similar to the concept. As a result, the production car won a design award as well. And most reviews now talk about how good the car looks, bringing in positive aspects to the reviews for the car.

Creates excitement

The right concept car creates excitement and reinvigorates customers’ interest in a company or an upcoming product. There have been times when people mail the companies with passionate letters after seeing their concepts and even send them cheques and deposits to show interest in buying the production version.

Reach out to more people

As enthusiasts, we know about most of the car brands and their products. However, not everyone knows about all the different companies and the types of cars they sell. Concepts, especially at public shows and expos, attract the general crowd and may introduce the brand and its products to a new customer who may have never heard of the company before.

For video games

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Car makers could collaborate with video game makers to bring in concepts that are shown at the expos to video games. Some concepts are built exclusively for games. It lets enthusiasts drive cars they may never get their hands on in video games. This increases publicity for the car maker as well as for the video game.

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[ariesonu]

I am always intrigued by these concept cars & wonder what happens to them after the shows. These are not scale models that someone would plop it on his desk but I am given to understand that there are some car collectors in GULF (nee SHEIKHS) who have bought some of working models for their fancy.

But I do wish that the Tata Sierra would make it to production.

Raab rakha.

[14000rpm]

Originally Posted by ariesonu

I am always intrigued by these concept cars & wonder what happens to them after the shows. These are not scale models that someone would plop it on his desk but I am given to understand that there are some car collectors in GULF (nee SHEIKHS) who have bought some of working models for their fancy.

But I do wish that the Tata Sierra would make it to production.

Raab rakha.

Most often these concepts are never in drivable conditions. Even those that drive on their own power, are never built to full production spec and hence never legal to drive anywhere.
Manufacturers handle these concept cars very differently. FCA has a huge warehouse where all their Jeep concept cars are stored, most of them are drivable since they are built off of existing chassis.

with most other manufacturers, some times, they do the rounds with shows globally and are then retired/Scrapped.

I'm not sure if any company would sell these concept cars to the public. One-off cars, which could have been concept at one time, are commissioned though but then again, they are based on existing Chassis only.

[vinodvayyat]

More than all the listed points, I think that it should just be seen as a designer's creation which doesn't have a sellable product's practical aspects. Reason: It is not a designer's job to worry about these things before giving a sense of direction to the management. The management decides to approve it after taking blessings from respective departments. If the companies are to give it a very realistic touch, then the meaning of concept itself is moot - lot more money, time etc goes about it.

[AMG Power]

The Lotus S1 that was used as a submarine in the James Bond movie is on display at the London Film Museum.

In total 6 cars were made for the movie and a couple of them turned up on eBay after restoration and were sold for £1 million.

Out of the 6 cars made, only one was capable of actually being used as a submarine and another could have its wheels retracted.

This is the car at the museum:



And the sequence from the James Bond movie:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yeBqf6bYZak

[srishiva]

I just hope Tata gives the Sierra front bumper and main hedlamp design on Harrier ! The current one exposes too much of unsophisticated look for me.

Mahindra should at least ask Pininfarina to develop some concepts to increase interest in their products.

[TrackDay]

They are worth more if they make their way into movies. At least that way we get to see them on the Big screen.

I am talking about the Jaguar C-X75 that found its way into "Spectre (2015)" after being dropped from production. That car was Wow. A worthy Bond villain car.

[anivy]

A concept car from Ikea & Renault that will have to be assembled from 114 individual parts (total 374 pieces, which I am assuming includes the nuts & bolts type stuff) by the user. The car is named Höga.

Source 1: Yanko Design
Source 2: HÖGA - IKEA MOBILITY

[Venkatesh]

Crazy concept cars of the jet age. 60-year old concept cars inspired by jet fighters and space rockets featuring technology such as automonous driving, climate control, pedestrian avoidance and gas turbines.

1951 Buick Le Sabre

One of the world’s earliest concept cars, the Le Sabre came from the fertile imagination of GM design chief Harley Earl (1893-1969), who used this as his everyday car once it was redundant on the show circuit. There was electric operation of the doors and windows along with a hard top that automatically raised itself in the event of rain.

1953 Ford XL500

With a push-button automatic transmission the XL-500 was supposed to provide effortless driving. It would have been like driving a goldfish bowl although air conditioning would stop the cabin from getting too hot – supposedly. Standard equipment included a telephone and built-in jacks in the event of a puncture

1954 Buick Wildcat II

With its ‘flying-wing’ front end and glassfibre construction the Wildcat II was definitely a car of the future when it appeared in 1953 – the same year as the original Corvette. Focus on the centre section of this concept and you can see how similar it is to the earliest Corvettes.

1954 De Soto Adventurer II Coupé

The brief with this one was to come up with something super-slippery rather than ostentatious. As a result the Adventurer’s clean lines are very understated but those afterburner-inspired tail lights give a hint of what’s to come with later Chrysler concepts

1954 Ford FX Atmos

The FX stood for Future Experimental, those spears on the front were aerials to help control the car to stop it running into vehicles in front, and the ‘Atmos’ was taken from atmosphere, which Ford said “came from free and unlimited creative thinking”. With a glass canopy, seating for three and a pair of aircraft-style fins, this was truly a jet-age design.

1954 GM Firebird I

The first of three Firebird concepts, this one featured a single-stick control system which dispensed with the steering wheel, accelerator and brake. Because it was located in the middle of the car either the driver or passenger could operate it; power came from a gas turbine which could be used to power a house via a built-in generator.

1955 Ford Mystere

You wouldn’t want to have to fit a new windscreen to this beauty as it stretched right the way round the car from behind each door. To get in and out the whole thing tilted up as a canopy. The cabin was air conditioned and power came from a rear-mounted gas turbine.

1955 Lincoln Futura

Best known for its starring role in the original Batman TV series, the Futura looked like nothing else thanks to its twin Plexiglass domes along with fins front and rear. Ford spent $250,000 building this 300bhp V8-powered running concept which also featured a push-button automatic transmission.

1956 Buick Centurion

The rear end of this car was clearly inspired by a jet fighter, with all of its lines converging on a single spot. Instead of rear-view mirrors there was a camera in the tail which beamed pictures to a screen on the dash. Meanwhile, the whole of the top of the car was made of glass, with just a few thin pillars to aid rigidity.

1956 GM Firebird II

If Firebird I looked way out it was nothing compared with the sequel which was also powered by a gas turbine. Constructed from titanium, Firebird II was designed to be run on guided roadways – so it was a forerunner to today’s would-be autonomous cars.

1956 GM XP-500

The world’s first car with a free-piston engine, the XP-500 could burn animal, vegetable or mineral oils and pump hot gases through a pipe to a turbine which drove the rear wheels. The problem was that the 250 hp powerplant made such a racket in operation that you had to wear ear defenders while driving.

1956 Pontiac Club de Mer

Inspired more by sharks than jet aircraft, the nose and tail design of the aluminium-bodied Club de Mer were straight from the sea. But those aero screens were aeronautical and when the car was driven at night, pods in the nose swivelled through 180 degrees to reveal the headlamps.

1957 Ford X-1000

How’s this for wacky – the X-1000 was designed so that the engine could be mounted either in the nose or the tail. The luxurious cabin featured a TV and hi-fi while there was a retractable canopy for the two seats, which allowed the car to be driven as a convertible or bubble-topped coupé.

1958 Ford La Galaxie

Up front there were three individual chairs and a bench seat for another three people in the rear. There was one huge door on each side while the roof hinged up butterfly-style to allow easier entry and exit. All very interesting but the La Galaxie wasn’t what you’d call a looker

1958 Ford Nucleon

This one was just too mad to turn into a runner – it never even got beyond the 3/8th scale model stage. Which is a shame because who wouldn’t want to drive a car fitted with a nuclear reactor in the back (no, that’s not a spare wheel), to give a 5000-mile range?

1958 Ford X2000

Producing a successor to the X1000 was never going to be easy, but it’s fair to say that Alex Tremulis came up with the goods with this incredible design. The X2000 was supposed to predict what we’d be driving in 2000, although it also never went beyond the 3/8th scale model stage.

1958 GM Firebird III

Until now, concept cars of the 1950s had been inspired by jet aircraft but this was the first one to take its cues from rockets and space craft instead. As such it was even more extreme than its predecessors and featured automatic guidance, a 225bhp turbine, a climate-controlled cabin and automatic lighting.

1958 XP-700 Corvette

Effectively a rebodied Corvette, the XP-700 featured an, er, ‘distinctive’ nose design and a bubble-top canopy that had a space-age feel about it. Purely a design study, the XP-700 also ditched a conventional rear-view mirror and instead featured a periscope for an unobstructed view of the road behind.

1959 Cadillac Cyclone

Those black cones in the nose were equipped with radar to help the Cyclone’s driver avoid anything in the way. The cockpit was protected by a single-piece plastic canopy coated with vapourised silver to deflect the sun’s rays.

1961 Chrysler Turboflite

The Turboflite’s regenerative turbine weighed half as much as an equivalent V8 internal combustion engine. As soon as one of the doors was opened the glass canopy was raised electrically and an air brake popped up as soon as the hydraulic brake was applied, in a bid to help out the mechanical braking system.

1961 Ford Gyron

You could be forgiven for thinking that the Gyron was a three-wheeler, but as the name suggests it actually had just two wheels. To aid stability there was a stabiliser on either side of the rear wheel to keep the Gyron upright when stationary or while getting up to speed.

1964 GM Runabout

Charming in its simplicity, the Runabout was a three-wheeled city car with the aerodynamics of an arrow. In the boot were two integral shopping trolleys so you could load up on cheap beer. Inside there was seating for five; two up front and three in the back. But nearly 60 years on, not many cars look or operate like this.

1967 Ford Seattle-ite XXI

In a bid to complicate things unnecessarily the Seattle-ite XXI featured four front wheels, all of which steered but this was done via a fingertip-controlled dial on the centre console – there was no steering wheel. Power could be from a turbine, electric motor or “compact nuclear propulsion device”.

1969 Buick Century Cruiser

Designed originally as the Firebird IV in 1964, this high-performance car was designed as an autonomous car with all of the comforts of a living room. As such the seats could recline and swivel, there was a TV and pull-out table and even a built-in fridge. Looking at the picture it’s hard to see how they fitted that lot in; it must have been very cosy inside

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