Concept Cars

After unveiling the E-10 electric concept last year, Chevy has now unveiled a 1977 Blazer K5 electric concept for the SEMA show that previews the company’s crate powertrain future. For a company that didn’t seem to be as vested in electrification as other automakers until recently, this is a very big step. This concept also gives us a peek at the upcoming Electric Connect and Cruise package that’s expected to come sometime next year.

Often, car companies like to give us hints at their future through their concepts. Sometimes, these prototypes aim to break established boundaries, while others pay homage to iconic models from the past and show us how a modern-day version could look like. Since these cars are not required to cover all tedious requirements a production version has to, the designers can go crazy with their creativity.

It’s no surprise then that concept cars are often the biggest head turners at car shows. Although every car brand has its own portfolio of interesting concepts, some of the most epic automotive art comes from the USA. Sadly, for one reason or another, many of these aesthetic and technological marvels remained prototypes. Here are some of the greatest American cars that never made it into production.

Post the big debut, the Ford Bronco and its urban-alter ego are busy with various other activities. The Bronco Sport recently won the 2020 Rebelle Rally in its category in stock condition, and now Ford has announced the Bronco will don the emergency vehicle outfit to support the National Forest Foundation.

Ford has teamed up with Filson, an outdoor outfitter, to develop the Bronco Wildland Fire Rig Concept. It is customized with firefighting equipment and Ford will donate two examples for the cause.

Automakers, in general, often make decisions that change the course of their respective histories. We don’t often see these decisions in public, but every so often, concept cars play the role of avatars, giving us a peek at what could’ve been had a specific automaker decided to greenlight some of these concepts. There’s a laundry list of concept cars that never made it to production — and probably altered the history of some brands — but we’re here to shine the spotlight on one particular concept that could’ve altered the trajectory of the automaker that developed it. This is the Nissan Mid4, an experimental sports car that Nissan developed in the mid-1980s to compete against the Ferraris and Porsches of that era. Two concepts were introduced, but neither made it to production, leaving everyone with a big bowl of “what if” on their hands. What if Nissan launched the Mid4 as intended? What would the automaker look like now? We’ll never know the answers to these questions, but, rest assured, Nissan wouldn’t be the Nissan that we known now if the Mid4 came to life.

You could argue that the arrival of Maserati’s MC20 sports car has been a sort of breath of fresh air for the Italian carmaker. While every static review, vlog, or walkaround of the MC20 has been ecstatic (pun intended), there have been people arguing that the MC20 is far from the animal we knew as the MC12.

However, perhaps some of the naysayers could be silenced if Maserati decided to build this GT Targa.

Renault is outlining its EV mobility plan with a sleek-looking concept called eVision which heralds the use of a new battery pack, “one of the thinnest on the market.” The production model derived from the concept will sit on the CMF-EV platform, but it’ll take at least one year before we see it in the metal.

It’s been 16 years since the last Oldsmobile Alero rolled off the Lansing, Michigan plant’s production line thus ending the 106-year-old history of Oldsmobile. 20 years prior, nobody could predict the end was quite so near as the company was trying really hard to re-establish itself among buyers that weren’t the age of your grandfather and it was doing that through technology.

A new, compact DOHC, 16-valve four-banger named the Quad 4 was supposed to lead the offense, and Oldsmobile went to great lengths to showcase just how amazing that powerplant really was. How great? Well, they built the car that still holds to this day the world speed record on a closed course.

Pininfarina is responsible for some of the most provocative-looking cars in history. From legendary machines like the Ferrari F40 and Ferrari Enzo to staggering custom creations like the Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe Hyperion, BMW Gran Lusso Coupe, and Fittipaldi EF7 Vision Gran Turismo, Pininfarina’s design DNA can be found in some of history’s most attractive rides. Automakers far and wide have come to Pininfarina for their automotive design needs, and the Italian design house has proven time and again that it’s the go-to firm for those needs. A big part of the studio’s success rests on the designers that it has in the fold.

One such designer, Daniel Gombo, technically isn’t employed by Pininfarina, but he did just finish his master’s thesis under the supervision of the Italian firm and part of that thesis required Gombo to design a vehicle.

The all-new Bronco has looked very impressive on paper so far and has matched the Wrangler is almost every aspect. But, in its quest to beat the leader of the pack, the biggest question still poses in front of it – can it be accessorized and fitted with various parts and equipment like the Wrangler? Well, Ford has answered this by revealing the Bronco Overland Concept. Does this make Ford’s reincarnated product look versatile?

Mercedes-Benz is working on a brand-new, all-electric concept car. It’s called the Vision EQXX and the German firm released teaser images and some details during its 2020 strategy update presentation. By far the biggest highlight is its record-breaking range, estimated at around 750 miles!

In an exercise of imagination, Lexus let its designers concoct the J201 Concept, an out-and-out overlanding monster set to make a debut at the Rebelle Rally. Oh, and it’s fitted with a supercharged V-8, in case you wanted to know.

Ford was all about revisiting its illustrious past two decades ago when the Ford GT40 Concept was conceived. However, unlike other throw-back prototypes such as the Forty-Nine, the GT40 Concept actually spawned a production model in the 2005 GT that retained many of the exterior design features of the concept car.

As always, though, the road from the sketchbook of a designer to a finished, full-size prototype, and then to production is long and arduous and, this time, it all started with a look over in the yard of an old nemesis of Ford’s.

Although General Motors is selling a couple of electric cars, none of them are coming into showrooms with a Buick badge. But this will change soon because Buick just unveiled an all-electric concept that previews at least one production model. It’s called the Electra, a name Buick used on an iconic full-size car produced from 1959 to 1990, which means it’s a very important project for the brand. Unveiled in Shanghai, it’s developed by GM’s Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center in China, it debuts a new design language, and features an advanced battery system called Ultium.

If the car industry has learned us anything so far it’s that carmakers like to play with concept vehicles but they’re also part work. More often than not, a concept car has led a car brand’s direction and approach for the years to come and we’re not only talking about design cues and whatnot, but also that brand’s vision of mobility.

In that context, we can’t ignore two of Mercedes-Benz’s most stunning concepts, the 2015 F 015 prototype and the more recent Vision AVTR, unveiled at the 2020 CES in Las Vegas. Both are about luxury first and foremost but also about a new avenue that might spur other carmakers to join the bandwagon: a reinterpreted interaction between human, machine, and nature.


Then we stumbled onto this unofficial design study, dubbed the Mercedes-Benz Vision Duet Concept.