Concept carsare to the automotive world what Haute Couture is to the world of fashion. More often than not, they are never intended for production, but instead are meant to show off new ideas and talent in the arena of car design. Sometimes they are flights of pure fantasy while others are precursors to forthcoming new production models.
General Motors could probably be credited with the invention of the concept car. In the 1950's, the GM Motorama shows were used as an opportunity to show off the GM range of cars to a postwar public who were hungry for new automobiles. In addition to their production vehicles, GM commissioned one off "dream cars", designed by the chief man in GM car design, Haley Earl. Fabulous one-offs with tail-fins, jet exhausts and fighter plane-like glass canopy roofs were produced for the Motorama shows. None were meant for production, but some of their styling features went into production, most notably the tail-fin.
The first Corvette (1953-55) was initially meant only as a "dream car" for Motorama, but public reaction was so favorable, that it went into limited production. After a slow start, it went onto be America's favorite sports car. Other examples of Concept cars becoming production reality due to strong public demand include the Volkswagen Concept One, (which matured into the New Beetle), and the Dodge Viper.
Nowadays, most big car manufacturers roll out a concept car at the major motor shows in order to showcase possible future styling ideas to the press and the buying public. If reaction is good, then production within 2-3 years is often the result. If not, then the manufacturer learns not to pursue that design trend for the price of the prototype, which is obviously alot cheaper than a sales disaster. To be cynical, often if a manufacturer has no new models for sale they will roll out an assortment of concept vehicles to distract from the lack of new product, and to generate copy for the motoring press.
The bottom line however, is that concepts are mostly still dream machines that most would love to drive home in at the end of the day. As long as there is a car industry, then there will be concept cars.
The following are the concept cars in my collection. Please click on their names for more information.
