Concept Cars?

Question

How come so many car companys make these concept cars and never manufacture them for people to buy? I love some of the ideas but for some reason we cant buy the cars. What is the point of making them if your not going to sell them?

Answer 1

Concept cars are design exercises made to show audiences at car shows what future cars may look like. They help the designers get an idea of what the public likes, or doesn't like in new car designs.

They are not all intended for production, but some styling cues from different concept cars may end up on production vehicles in a few years.

Answer 2

They are made just to get you interested in the company and to tease you into your local showrooms. It will gauge public reaction pretty well.

The problem is most concept cars are not even real cars in the sense that they don't run, or aren't designed to run more than 10 or 20 meters, the distance that's required to drive onto and/or off the stage at presentations. And since they are made by hand, they will cost WAY TOO MUCH for any one to buy. And they are NOT designed with mass production, safety, or proper engine choice in mind.

Most concept cars now use a turbo-charged high-horsepower engine, or even exotic engines like hydrogen fuel cell and so on. If the car makes it to production, it'd be neutered down to a regular V6 or even I4.

You should see some of the concept cars in the 50's and 60's and 70's. They actually considered TURBINE power (read: Jet engine) for cars back then. And before that, there's the Ford Nucleon (nuclear power!)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler_Turbine_Car
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_Firebird

Answer 3

Adverising and marketing as well as consumer testing of what will get the most "buzz" is the primary purpose of Concept Vehicles.

Most of these cars would be too expensive for the general public in their "show" form, but many of the accessories and mechanicals usually show up in a dressed down version later on.

Most new run vehicles (all new tooling and design) had started out as concept cars at some point.

Hope that helps a bit.