Our Two Cents: What concept car do you wish made production?
There are times when a concept car from a major automaker hits the auto show circuit, grabs you by your soul, and refuses to let go. It all started with Buick’s Y-job, and that car somehow naturally, organically turned into the Holden Efijy (above), a concept car that’s part Y-job, part custom hot-rod, and part rolling tribute to the brand’s storied past. It’s hard to fault this concept, except for the singular fact it never made production after its unveiling in 2005.
So it should come as no surprise that I wanted to ask the staff here at Hagerty Media about their favorite concept car, one that they wished came to production. Let’s see what cars are on our wish list.
Time for turbine
“It’s gotta be the Chrysler Turbine car! Such a futuristic concept for the time that seemed so close yet so far from being a mass production reality.” — Greg Ingold
Avus for us?
The Audi Avus quattro from 1991. Only slightly complex with its all-wheel-drive, triple-locking differentials, rear steering, and a mid-mounted W-12. And so, so shiny—it was like a funhouse mirror on wheels. — Stefan Lombard
This is a great one, because I have a die-cast of this model and it absolutely takes your breath away when it is in your hand. — Sajeev Mehta
The forgotten Ford GT
“The 1990 Ford GT90! I still support the notion of Ford making this supercar.” — Matt Tuccillo
A UUV for you and me?
“I don’t know if this qualifies as a concept car, but Toyota dropped a Sienna on a lifted Tacoma chassis several years ago and called the UUV, the Ultimate Utility Vehicle. I honestly don’t know why Toyota, Subaru, Ford, etc. wouldn’t just go ahead and make something like this.
Minivan the WORLD. Put dual sliding doors on EVERYTHING.
Could you imagine a Toyota Sienna TRD Pro? Or a Ford Aerostar Raptor? The world NEEDS factory off-road minivans!” — Ben Woodworth
Marry me, Ben. — Anonymous co-worker
An Avista cruiser?
“Part of me wants to say 2003 Cadillac Sixteen, because it’s so out there and ambitious. But instead I’m going to say the 2016 Buick Avista, because it was so much more realistic and could have been built on the Alpha platform to give Buick a much-needed shot in the arm. The Cadillac ATS-V (2016–19) should have had the LT1, while the twin-turbo V-6 could have made the Avista into a Grand National.” — Brandan Gillogly
Selections for a Need for Speed
There are tons of good ones from Need For Speed II SE: Ford GT90, Italdesign Cala, Ford Indigo, and the BMW Nazca C2. — Chris Stark
The Microbus for us
One of the biggest missed opportunities of my career was, I think, the 2001 debut of the Volkswagen Microbus at the Detroit Auto Show. VW needed a product that would generate some excitement, and totally missed the boat by not building that Microbus, which looks suspiciously like the ID. Buzz that we met decades later. It was a big, big mistake to blow an opportunity to help rejuvenate the sagging minivan market. The Microbus was the star of the Detroit show, which should have told VW something.
But no, instead we got the Routan. — Steven Cole Smith
Top Cat and a fiberglass Poncho?
Damn, I love Cougars, and the El Gato woulda been the sleeker, speedier version of Mercury’s pony car. That fastback design with a nose that would make GTO fanatics weep—hot dog! Er, cat.
I know you said to pick one concept, Sajeev, but it’s super fun to imagine Pontiac sharing a piece of the Corvette pie with the Banshee (XP-833). What would the world look like today? Would Pontiac still be alive and kickin’?” — Cameron Neveu
Serve us up a CERV
CERV-II. Aside from looking like a car in Speed Racer, imagine what Corvette would be up to now if a production mid-engine, AWD layout debuted in the ’60s instead of 2023.” — Eddy Eckart
The forgotten snake?
I wish there was some deep, journalistic/economic reasoning behind this choice, but there’s not. The 1997 Dodge Copperhead was the first scale-model car that I was gifted as a 5-year-old. I spent hours looking at the strange front end and those Viper-esque tail lamps, and convinced myself that such a car was a good idea. It almost certainly wasn’t, but to see one cruising around today would make 5-year-old Nate very, very happy.” — Nathan Petroelje
The coolest E-bike?
“Long before electric motorcycles were being taken seriously, Honda put the concept into enthusiasts’ minds with the RC-E. The design called back to the seemingly timeless flowy design of ’60s race bikes and even incorporated the Honda Racing Corporation red/yellow/silver color scheme. With modern battery and motor tech, this looks like it would be a really fun bike to ride.” — Kyle Smith
This car coulda roamed your town
I know I am a creature of habit when it comes to my tastes in cars, but the fact that the redesigned Lincoln Town Car (2003) didn’t become the production version of this 2002 Lincoln Continental Concept is beyond tragic. Imagine this as your next cab in Manhattan, or a limo for prom. Or, well, perhaps something to aspire to when your grandparents want to sell their 2004 Town Car?
No matter, because this re-design of the 2003 Town Car was likely to come to fruition, according to a book (probably this one) I read by an industry insider. But it was jettisoned in a last-minute effort to cut costs, so those pricey rear-hinged doors never stood a chance. Or perhaps it was never meant to be, for the same reason the Retro Thunderbird rotted on the vine: Ford had no money to make the Continental Concept a reality, and the company likely regretted making it in the first place.” — Sajeev Mehta
***
Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. To get our best stories delivered right to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters.
I loved the look of the Chrysler Chronos, but it was a large car and would probably have a very small market these days.
The Ford GT and would you really rather have that Buick!!!
As a kid it was always my favorite time of the year to go visit the NAIAS in Detroit to go see all the new concept cars, the Auto Show used to be so exciting. My three favorite concept cars were (in no particular order) the Holden Efijy, the Ford GT90, and the Ford Indigo.
The Indigo was a real wild concept, and it would have been neat to see them on the street. It pains me that that era of exciting concept cars is gone, replaced by appliances with infotainment centers.
I have the Maitso 1:18 model of the Ford GT90. The only other model I look at as much is my Amalgam 1:18 Ferrari GTO.
Sometimes, function is form.
Sorry, the Ford GT 90 is still ugly, though not as bad as the slabsided Cobra they rolled out about the same time.
It was, however, perfect to make a Lego kit of…
Seriously, how about the 1963 Mustang prototype?
A Mid engine roadster ahead of its time.
If nothing else, how about some making a body kit for Fieros?
Cameron says it would be fun to imagine Pontiac sharing a piece of the Corvette pie with the Banshee. He puts it very well – the Banshee and Corvette would be splitting the customer base (the “pie”) while needing two assembly lines and staff. The cost of the pie goes up, so the prices go up, so the number of customers goes down. It is almost never a good idea for a company to compete with itself.
The Microbus was the very first car I thought of when reading the title of this article. Not the ID Buzz version depicted in the story, but the honest-to-retro original concept. My wife and I both said, “If they make this, this will be the first minivan we ever own!” Well, they didn’t make it, and we’ve never owned a minivan. They should have made it. It would have sold well, as it was timed perfectly for the retro resurgence and also during the period of the minivan heyday.
The Lincoln Continental concept was another huge miss for Ford. This could have restored a lot of caché to the Lincoln brand. The design exuded a level of class and exclusivity not seen with Lincoln in quite some time, and those suicide doors, cost-be-damned, needed to be present. As a halo vehicle, it could have pulled the brand more upmarket and justified the higher asking prices. An SUV variant could have helped pull in sales as well.
AMX III, mid-engine sports car, from AMC. several were built, and still exist.
Many ‘concepts’ make it into production on other models. Most are SO impractical that it is impossible to put into production. Dram cars are for dreaming.
For me it was the Ford Forty-Nine.
The Porsche Carrera was born a show car using left over engines. The Porsche 918 was a concept marrying electric motors to a ICE. Show or concept they both went into limited production and have become very valuable performance and collector cars. The point is: Thorough engineering and actual working parts trump cheap dreams.
A gentleman who will remain nameless took delivery of a Porsche 918 at Valley Imports here in Fargo, ND. I was allowed to lift the cover and examine this thing. No words.
How about the Chrysler Atlantic? A beautiful modernized rendition of the Bugatti Atlantic Type 57 on the show circuit with the Viper. Unfortunately it didn’t make the cut. A beautiful car nonetheless.
Some concept cars are indeed just wild ideas, but a few concept cars are sneaked in that not only look good but can be built. The Porsche Boxster is a good example. That was a successful transition to a real car because the street car retained almost all of the looks of the concept car. Unfortunately other mfgs so butcher the looks, the production concept car we want looks nothing like original. Oh, as for the Chrysler Turbine car, we should have been driving them since the 60’s and onto the 4th or 5th generation by now. But who would have any problem with a car that can run on any fuel? We all know what killed that car.
Britton V1000 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britten_V1000
Glaring omission-the Chrysler ME Four-Twelve! This concept was literally ready for production until it was nixed lady second by Daimler wanting the Mercedes SLT MCLAREN instead. Ahh that German ego…
* last second