What Happens To Concept Car?
We often come across weird and wonderful concept cars when scrolling through social media. Alex Hirschi, aka Supercar Blondie, is an Australian social media influencer and supercar blogger. She is arguably one of the most well-known for bringing us the latest in concept car news. From the BMW iVision Dee to the Porsche Mission X, she has covered them all. Earlier this year, Supercar Blondie showcased the Top 10 Concept Cars of 2023. One of the key things to note about these concept cars is that they are actually physical. They exist.
So why do we never see them on the road or for sale (not that the majority of us could afford them)? What actually happens to concept cars?
Our Personal Favourite - The BMW Gina
Okay, this has to be the craziest concept car to exist. It is the world's first and only car to have a fully fabric exterior. It is almost skin-like. The bonnet, which at first glance appears smooth and slick, can "shape-shift", opening up down the middle as if it has been opened with a surgeon's knife. The skin-like exterior creases as it parts to reveal the cars engine. The headlines are also revealed in a similar fashion. The full body shape of the car can be changed. The bodywork is wrapped in a material called polyurethane fabric, whatever that is.
The name Gina and its origin have been subjected to many jokes. As mentioned, the bonnet opens up from the middle, expanding to the right and to the left. The shape it leaves behind bears some resemblance to a female body part... that sounds like Gina.
Photo Credit: Youtube: Supercar Blondie.
Why Make Concept Cars?
There is actually a point of concept cars. In 2018, the design director for DS, Thierry Metroz, explained that "a concept is a development accelerator... to test the new technologies that we imagine for the future, and accelerate their development." Put simply, a concept car is a way for manufacturers to test their capabilities and showcase the tech that they are capable of putting in cars. This can act as a plan for the future, guiding them towards bigger and better things in their future cars. It is also a way of them obtaining feedback and establishing what doesn't work, as well as what does work. We are all familiar with features in our cars that we just never use, begging the question as to why manufacturers bothered to invest time and money into them. A concept car is great way of trialling future tech. Take the BMW Gina, for example. Is there a demand for a skin-like exterior?
Other concept cars do take form, even if they vary a lot from the original concept. In this sense, the concept car is a road-map of sorts. In 2015 at the Geneva Motor Show, Porsche unveiled the Mission E. This concept was a high-powered electric supercar with a long battery range. The press and public reaction was huge with many loving the idea. Consequently, in 2019, the Porsche Taycan was put into production with much of the ideas from the Mission E transferred over. As to whether the Porsche Taycan is a success in 2024 is up for debate, with their new sales plummeting and their second hand value worth a fraction of their cost new.
What Happens to Concept Cars?
Now to the crux of the question. What actually happens to these cars once they have been showcased. Well, the reality is that many of them are destroyed or dismantled. Some survive in museums owned by the manufacturers and others are just left in storage. Some concept cars do find their way into the private collections of incredibly wealthy people who thrive on owning one-of-a-kind cars. But these are usually done privately, so do not expect to find one listed on an auction site or Autotrader.
Remember, a concept car was never intended to be mass produced and sold to the every day driver. That is why we do not see them on the roads. The concepts are typically built with different materials, such as fibreglass, merely for display purposes. Although they function like a car should, they probably would not pass the strict safety requirements for a car to driven legally on the roads, especially in the UK. But if you are buying a new futuristic car, particularly electric, it may be worth researching how it came to be. After all, you may well be driving in a car that contains some elements from a really cool concept car.
