The Concept Behind Concept Cars - From Concept to Production

Concept Cars
Source: Dk58-Renaud, cc-by-3.0, flickr

Ever been to a motor show? There’s no shortage of exciting announcements. They’re the perfect opportunity for car manufacturers to show off their latest models, and whet the appetites of motoring enthusiasts long before the cars hit the production lines.

You know there’s a good chance you’re going to see something incredibly outrageous – and we mean that in the best possible way – but what it is, you just have to sit back and wait until the curtain falls and the lights go up.

Many of the most discussed cars on show at the prestigious auto shows – like the Mondial de L’Automobile in Paris, or the Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung, or to me and you, the Frankfurt Motor Show – never actually make it to the production lines. And they were never intended too. That’s because they are concept cars.

The Purpose

Concept cars have existed since the late 1930s. American luxury car manufacturer Buick created the Y-Job to showcase a number of additions, which were radical for the time. These included electric windows, hidden headlamps, and a wraparound bumper. And although the Y-Job didn’t go into production, its legacy was impressive. The car’s body design influenced many of the Buick models that followed.

Essentially these particular models have existed purely to show off design features that might be considered futuristic in appearance, or cutting-edge pieces of technology. Some are produced from unorthodox materials – ultimately representing a radical departure compared to the cars a manufacturer might produce.

In the past few decades we’ve seen cars that run on electricity, hybrid cars, car manufactured from paper, pure carbon fibre and even vegetables, cars plated in gold wow audiences at these motoring exhibits. Some of these cars aren’t even produced in a fully functional form. Some are. Either way, they’re there to showcase, wow, impress, inspire, and display the advances in technology car manufacturers have made.

Ford, for example, announced that it would display its C-Max Solar Energi car at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The car’s main innovation is that it utilises solar energy cultivated through the panels fitted on its roof to recharge its battery.

From Concept to Production

However, not all concept cars get consigned to the history books – briefly wheeled out for the masses to marvel over. Many of them – like French car manufacturer Peugeot’s RCZ R – become more than a concept car. They hit the production lines allowing people around the world – with a big enough budget – to get their hands on a special piece of motoring equipment.

With the RCZ R, Peugeot has manufactured its most powerful model. A sleek coupe that expands on the original RCZ model, renowned for its sophisticated sleekness and a double bubble roof, the RCZ R looks set to provide all the thrills and excitement you’d expect from a vehicle powered by a 1.6-litre THP engine capable of producing 260bhp (brake horsepower).

Although different in some ways to the original concept version – much like with the RCZ R – the final version usually encapsulates the original spirit and feel of the initial concept.

Louisa Jenkins loves driving cars. She also enjoys writing about them. A lot. Louisa’s blogs often look at new features and the latest models – such as the Peugeot RCZ R.