Explain "concept cars" to me.

[Simon Atavax]

http://autoshow.en.autos.sympatico.msn.ca/autoshow/Geneva2008/Article.aspx?cp-documentid=6422530

I've always wondered about this, even when I was a kid: What exactly is the point of these concept cars? I mean, they're cool and funky and everything, but why do companies bother pouring all the time and money into them since they, like, never *do* anything other than show them at these auto shows?

 

[WhatGravitas]

I think there are three reasons:

1) Testing. If you can build that car, the concepts can't be that stupid.
2) Show-off. You can show that you pull that off - easier to get money for it.
3) Advertisement. It looks cool and is effectively image-spin (y'know, progressive company and all that).

Cheers, LT.

 

[RichCsigs]

I've always assumed (and let me stress, ASSUMED) that concept cars were cars that the car companies can produce now but not in a costly fashion and that they hope to be able to get the costs down to a point where they can mass produce them (hence the "...in x years" number they always give). The reason they would show them early is to gauge consumer interest. If they produce a concept car with features a, b & c and there only seems to be interest in a & c, there's no reason to work on making feature b cost effective.

As I said, this is not based on any knowledge just assumption.

 

[drothgery]

What concept cars are varies wildly from concept car to concept car. Some are purely to demonstrate an idea (whether it's a design or engineering feature), others are only slightly removed from real production cars (and these often end up going into production in a slightly modified form in a year or two), and some are in between (i.e. they're buildable in volume, but they're different enough from cars that are actually in production that it'd take a lot of work, so they want to see what others think of them first).

 

[Desdichado]

I mean, they're cool and funky and everything, but why do companies bother pouring all the time and money into them since they, like, never *do* anything other than show them at these auto shows?

That's actually not true; lots of concept cars (usually in slightly modified fashion) do become production cars.

Mostly it's just to show off and create buzz, though.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I can think of a few concept cars that made it into production.

The Prowler is one. So was the Viper.

Another was the Oldsmobile Alero (although its original form was more like a Nissan Z, and its production form was a compact pocket rocket wannabe).

 

[Ranger REG]

That's actually not true; lots of concept cars (usually in slightly modified fashion) do become production cars.

Mostly it's just to show off and create buzz, though.

I concur. The concept car is a marketing tool to give us what we want in the future, if not now. By exposing and pitching the concept car to customers they could get a sense if the customers want to own it.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Another classic concept car- the modern VW Bug redesign.

 

[nerfherder]

The Civic Type-R concept looks virtually identical to the production car it became (except with slightly smaller wheels, and no Brembo brakes)

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

Concept cars exist for one reason: to keep the designers and engineers happy. They get to come up with these cool ideas and put them on display and get all geeked out. Then, after they are all cool with that, the marketing and finance people show up and say, "Thanks for that, now give us some designs for cars that we can sell a lot of for a reasonable price."