Why do concept vehicles and production vehicles look so different?

Question

It doesnt cost more money to bend metal a certian way, so why when a concept comes out it looks bad *** and then the production is exremely watered down? Perfect example is the 05 Mustang concept and the production version.

Answer 1

Most trial run vehicle bodies are not stamped that way. They are bent etc. using the most utmost care... sometimes using available dies but mostly by precise cutting.
In concept vehicles the price doesnot matter but in production vehicles it does.
Production vehicle body components are made on presses. Sometimes the design cannot be accomodated on a press and some modifications are made to suit the process.

Answer 2

because producing a handful of NON-functional vehicles and producing vehicles in the 100,000's are two different animals. The methods to produce a show car are often not cost efficient for production manufacturing. concept vehicles are PROTO types, and are often used as market tests for styling and other CONCEPTS.

And YES, it DOES cost money to bend metal different ways. Stamping tools can cost $250,000 a PIECE. And only certain profiles and angles can be made consistently on one tool before it gets worn out.

Answer 3

WELL first of all the Concepts are made to Impress the Investors and big bosses then they get aproved for Production Eg take alook at the Range Rover sport Concept and the production 2 different entities

Answer 4

Production cost. Buy making the concept extreme it sscreates a interest in the product. The reason that they tone it down is because of production cost and processes. Some things are not feasible and others are not cost effective.

Answer 5

Lots of reasons:
- Concept is just that. Some ideas are relatively expensive to manufacture, when a simpler or cheaper way looks almost as good. Price vs feaure doesn;t always mean feature. To that end, there is a target price for most cars that they want to hit, too expensive and nobody will buy...ala the Thunderbird.
- Subsequent marketing studies of features may not yield a popular feature. What is neat to the designer may not be cool to the customer, especially when asked "would you pay XXX for YYY?".

Answer 6

The concept version is just to get people worked up over it, the actual production model is the one that is cheaper to produce. I have wondered myself, but what happens is they run into problems along the way... design flaws, copyrights, aerodynamics, new design teams who want their own mark on the vehicle... we get what we get, but there are some sweet options out there... the new corvette, for example, is one car that exceeds it's value and looks dynamic... a more affordable car that exceeds it's value and still looks good... The Scion tc.

Answer 7

concepts are always way more badass so it catches peoples eye, but they are always pushing the limits of engineering feasibility. It either too expensive, or too unsafe to mass produce.
Also, they don't want to make the new models look too different from the earlier ones, otherwise... they won't have any new ideas for the next year and people will just look at the concepts and say, "That looks just like last year".

Answer 8

Safety laws, emissions, all that regulated stuff doesn't apply to a concept vehicle, so they can design it how they want. If they produce it, it has to comply, so they have to make changes. Also, some of the things would be too costly to do, resulting in a vehicle that people wouldn't want to pay for.

Answer 9

Because concept cars are an examle of the very best a manufacturer has to offer...while a production car is a massed produced lemon.

Concept cars are built by the best R&D teams...hand crafted.

Answer 10

i think you just answered your own question....the key word here is CONCEPT......turning a concept car into reality is just that.....less show and more "go" or at least more of what it will take to create something affordable for the consumer....if all concepts were in production, we would all pay out of the A$$ for our vehicles....certain things like HID LED projectors, which are common on concepts, hardly ever see production.....the main reason----$$$$$$$$$$ (on both sides of the table)