when does a concept vehicle become available to the public?

Answer 1

They don't generally become available. They are constructed to present concepts, hence the name, and to get public reaction. This is much how a race car is used to develop and test engine and chassis designs which are later incorporated, in a commercial fashion, into production vehicles.

Some innovations you see in a concept vehicle, such as the "heads up display", some years ago, take time to be refined to the point that it is economically worth putting them into production. Some never are because they are deemed impractical, cost too much, or the public just didn't like them.

So, you might not see the actual vehicle, but look for parts of it in the showroom.

Answer 2

Not normally. They are not certified for the road, so they couldn't be licensed, if you got down to it.
Auto manufacturers will hold on to them for years and just store them. When they are done with them a lot of the time they are smashed and destroyed.

I've had the pleasure to see a bunch of them at the truck plant. whenever they would have one at a car show they would store them at the plant until they were ready to go on display. That worked well until the employees would climb on them like monkeys and start tearing up stuff. What the guys didn't understand was that all the pieces were one off's and cost a fortune to replace. After some idiot got in one and tore up the dash by trying to force it to do something that it wasn't designed to do. We could no longer get close to them without ropes and a security guard there 24/7.

Answer 3

usually never
only a small percentage of concept vehicles ever become available to the public.
but for the ones that do, it usually takes anywhere from 3-5 years

Answer 4

Whenever the manufacturer decides to put it into production.

Could be months, if the car is close to being ready for production, or it could be years.