Tag: influential concept cars

Flashback: Chevrolet Turbo-Titan III (1965)

The 1960s brought with it some remarkable concept cars, but also some wild trucks. Freddie Holmes digs into the story behind GM's little-known turbine-powered Big Rig

Freddie Holmes

June focus: Advanced design

This month we dig into the world of advanced design to explore how these hyper-creative teams work. And given this is a future-looking discipline, we consider the long-term strategy for advanced design teams following the closure of major studios

Freddie Holmes

Interview: Stefan Lamm, director global advanced design, Mercedes-Benz

Car Design News sits down with Stefan Lamm, the new director of global advanced design at Mercedes-Benz to discuss early beginnings, showcars and his career highlights

Flashback: in-car record players

The concept of a personal road trip playlist began with an unlikely technology

Rumpler Tropfenwagen – the first streamliner

Largely forgotten, the pioneering Rumpler Tropfenwagen was a decade ahead of the designs of the time. But its legacy lives on in a new generation of aerodynamic research and in automotive design

Top Ten Pininfarina aero designs

As Pininfarina celebrates 50 years of its famous wind tunnel Car Design News highlights ten of its best designs shaped by aero tech

Italian car design legends captured in unique photobook

Italian car design greats captured in unique new photo book by Car Design News contributor and former Bertone employee Piotr Degler

Renault collaborates with Mathieu Lehanneur on 4L tribute

Product and architectural designer Mathieu Lehanneur works with Renault to create new concept based on iconic 4L

Concept Car of the Month: Lamborghini 400 GT Flying Star II (1965)

Remembering how the original Touring Superleggera went down in shooting-brake style

Interior Motives: Hyundai Concept 45

“It sheds the styling and technically flamboyant design [usually] shown, and provides a completely different interior experience”

Concept Car of the Month: Opel Experimental GT (1965)

Opel’s small, curvaceous concept dazzled the crowds at Frankfurt in 1965 and paved the way for the production GT

Concept Car of the Month: Opel GT2 (1975)

Opel’s crisp and geometric GT2 concept car was Jean-François Venet’s breakthrough project

CES 2020: Chrysler Airflow Vision concept

Despite the throwback name, this Chrysler showpiece could hint at their future design direction…

CES 2020: Toyota debuts a concept city

Mount Fuji is about to become the site of a futuristic mobility experience, thanks to Toyota’s Woven City concept

Pebble 2019: first sight of the Acura Type S concept

Acura’s Precision design concept spawns a sharp new sports sedan

Three 1980s economy concepts by Renault, Audi and Citröen

The Renault Vesta II, Audi 60 and Citröen Eco 2000 – three concepts from the 1980s that bear revisiting

Concept Car of the Month: VW Futura (1989)

The once and future Golf? The Volkswagen Futura, introduced at IAA Frankfurt in 1989, was once considered the future of the German marque

The Cars of Ian Callum: Jaguar R-D6 concept

A push for a 21st-century Jaguar spawned this highly influential sports hatch

Concept Car of the Week: Linea Diamante (1953)

Arguably Italy’s greatest modernist architect, Gio Ponti also had a whirl at car design with the Linea Diamante

Citroën’s Ami One urban mobility concept: small yet significant

The French firm’s centenary city car puts them squarely into the wider mobility landscape

CES 2019: Hyundai Elevate concept UMV can stand up and walk

Hyundai’s ‘CRADLE’ division for technological research has unveiled an Ultimate Mobility Vehicle (UMV) which can either drive like a car or walk like a quadruped

Concept Car of the week: Dome Zero (1978)

Launched at the Geneva Motor show in 1978, the Dome Zero designed by Minoru Hayashi was a Japanese concept car that echoed Italdesign or Bertone

Concept Truck of the Week: Ford Super Chief (2006)

The trend towards luxury has produced a number of interesting truck concepts over the years. One of the largest and most interesting was the Ford Super Chief concept of 2006, which was, despite appearances, more of a personal limousine than a pick-up truck

Concept Car of the Week: ItalDesign/Volkswagen Project Orbit (1986)

Following the success of the Golf, Italdesign proposed a radical duo – Machimoto and Orbit – to evolve Volkswagen’s small car concept

Peugeot’s Gilles Vidal on the e-Legend concept

A closer look at the e-Legend concept

Concept Truck of the Week: Toyota A-BAT (2008)

The Toyota A-BAT was a ‘ute’ for the ’burbs – and beyond

Peugeot E-Legend Concept revealed

A retro throwback on the surface, an autonomous connected EV underneath

Mercedes-Benz Vision Urbanetic concept

Swappable bodies make autonomous, electric concept van an urban tool

Concept Ute of the Week: Isuzu Como F1 (1991)

The Isuzu Como F1 concept combined a car, a truck and a prophecy – with a whole load of horsepower to boot

Concept Car of the Week: Arthur Radebaugh & the Bohn concepts (1947-49)

In the late 1940s, artist and advertising man Arthur Radebaugh produced a series of futuristic artworks for automotive and aircraft parts manufacturer Bohn Metals based in Detroit. The results were stunning

Design Development: Tata EVision Concept

In-depth details of how the UK-conceived concept car came to be – and lots of images

Concept Car of the Week: Lamborghini Marzal (1967)

We look at the Lamborghini Marzal concept

Concept Car of the Week: Autobianchi Runabout (1969)

Marcello Gandini’s Autobianchi Runabout was a precursor to the Fiat X1/9

Concept Car of the Week: Bertone Alfa Romeo Carabo (1968)

Marcello Gandini’s Carabo for Alfa Romeo pioneered a distinct design language, influencing automotive icons such as the Lotus Esprit and Lamborghini Countach

Concept Cars of the Week: Italdesign’s 20th anniversary cars (1988)

Giugiaro celebrated 20 years of success like only he could, with a trio of radical concept cars: Aztec, Apsid and Asgard

Geneva 2018: Porsche Mission E Cross Turismo concept

On a new electric powertrain, the Mission E Cross Turismo previews a future crossover

Design development: GAC Enverge concept

A look into GAC’s trend-driven poster car which prefaces its planned entrance to the US market

Concept Car of the Week: American Motor Corporation Concept 80 Cars (1977)

A brave, but ultimately doomed, attempt to save the American Motor Corporation

Concept Car of the Week: BMW GINA (2008)

The GINA Light Visionary Model extended themes first seen on the 2001 X-Coupé and the production BMW Z-4. Designed by Chris Bangle and his team in 2001, the car had been kept secret for over six years

Concept Cars of the Week: The ItalDesign ‘M’ Cars (1978-82)

Sleek, smooth and enormously influential concepts from Giugiaro including the Lancia Megagamma, the 1978 ItalDesign M8, Lancia Medusa and the Lamborghini Marco Polo, we trace the connections

Rinspeed Snap mobility concept unveiled

Separating the interior space from the automobile, both literally and philosophically

Concept Car of the Week: BMW X-Coupé (2001)

Chris Bangle’s now famous Flame Surfacing made its debut in the form of the BMW X-Coupé at the 2001 North American International Auto Show

LA 2017: Toyota FT-AC concept

Toyota’s on-trend SUV steals the limelight at the LA Auto Show

LA 2017: Chris Bangle’s Redspace project

Car Design News was at the launch of a startling Chinese government-backed urban micro-EV

Concept Car of the Week: GM Ecotec Lakester (2003)

A concept car with a racing heart

Concept Car of the Week: GMC Terradyne

The Terradyne was General Motors’ turn-of-the-millennium vision of the urbanised future of the truck

Concept Car of the Week: Holden Hurricane (1969)

Holden’s first concept car was one for the ages

Concept of the Week: Oldsmobile Profile (2000)

A compact SUV concept from Oldsmobile that looks strikingly contemporary

Concept Car of the Week: Renault Nepta (2006)

A land yacht for cruising the Corniche, the Renault Nepta is an open-top grand tourer with classic lines and proportions evoking classic open-topped cars like phaetons, or the classic 1960s Lincoln Continental convertible

Design Review: Borgward Isabella Concept

Concept Car of the Week: The Airomobile

A valiant attempt at an aeronautical, economical, people’s car

Frankfurt 2017: Honda Urban EV Concept

One of the clear favourites of IAA 2017, has been the Honda Urban EV Concept, a cute little electric city car which takes the rectilinear style of the 1970s and adds 21st-century softness

Concept Car(s) of the Week: The early Ford Fiesta concepts

Looking back on early concept versions of Ford’s flagship supermini

Concept Car of the Week: The Dale (1974)

Grifts, murder, a transgender con-artist and a micro car – the story of The Dale concept car proves life is stranger than fiction

Concept Car of the Week: Pontiac Firebird Type K (1978)

The culmination of decade-long programme to bring a shooting brake to production

Concept Car of the Week: Vauxhall SRV (1970)

A magnificent design emerges from a “temporary” assignment

Infiniti reveals vintage-inspired ‘Prototype 9’ concept

Nissan’s premium brand (est. 1989) imagines its own 1940s Grand Prix car, in a fit of ‘fauxstalgia’…

Concept Car(s) of the Week: The Corvette Mako Sharks

Wicked-looking concepts that predicted the future of Chevrolet’s iconic sports car

Concept Cars of the Week: Corvair Sports Cars

The humble Chevrolet compact inspired some surprising sports cars

Concept Car(s) of the Week: The Darrin Roadsters (part deux)

The second part of Dutch Darrin’s search for the ‘Holy Grail’ of sports cars

Concept Car(s) of the Week: The Darrin Roadsters

Dutchman Darrin’s search for the ‘Holy Grail’ of sports cars

Concept Car(s) of the Week: The Corvette Quartet (1954)

A fabulous foursome of Motorama showstoppers

Concept Car of the Week: Studebaker Sceptre

The swansong from South Bend

Concept Truck of the Week: Ford Ranger II

What Syd Mead Would Drive to the Beach

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Lincoln Continental

The famous architect’s personal concept car

Concept Car of the Week: Renault Avantime (1999)

A look at Matra’s last car, an automotive portmanteau

Lamborghini Bravo (1974)

An overlooked Gandini classic may be one of his best designs ever

Pontiac Phantom (Madam X)

Bill Mitchell’s illustrious career ended with a gothic coupé

Cadillac Personal Luxury Car Concepts

The development of the ‘personal luxury car’ produced some remarkable concepts

Concept Car of the Week: Pininfarina Jacqueline (1961)

World-famous First Lady inspired this mid-Atlantic collaboration

Concept Car of the Week: Hillman Zimp [1964]

Ercole Spada Gives the Imp an Italian Makeover

Concept Car of the Week: Chrysler 70X (1969) and Cordoba Del Oro (1970)

Defining the “Fuselage” Aesthetic for a new decade at Chrysler

Concept Car of the Week: Citroën M35

Ami meets Wankel. Odd romance ensues

Concept Car (OK, Truck) of the Week: Siemens Innotruck (2012)

Looking back to when Luigi Colani and Siemens invented the truck of the future: Innotruck

Concept Car of the Week: General Motors Bison (1964)

The Bison concept by General Motors explored a trucking application for gas-turbine technology

Concept Car of the Week: GM LeSabre (1951)

The car that defined auto design in the 1950s in America was the General Motors LeSabre of 1951. Conceived by the flamboyant GM design chief Harley Earl, it was meant to set out the programme for the cars of the new rocket age

Concept Car of the Week: Norman Timbs Special (1948)

Like a Hollywood take on a German race car, this sleek road-legal roadster was both out of place and time

Concept Car of the Week: Buick Centurion (1956)

The centrepiece of General Motors legendary Motorama shows, the Buick Centurion was the combined talent of Harley Earl and Charles ‘Chuck’ Jordan

Concept Car of the Week: Pininfarina Maserati Birdcage (2006)

Recreating a classic for a new era

Concept Car of the Week: Chrysler ecoVoyager (2008)

Not quite the future of the luxury car, but an interesting experimental monospace

Concept Car of the Week: Lincoln ‘C’ (2009)

Big American Luxury in a C-Segment Car

Concept Car of the Week: Cadillac N.A.R.T. (1970)

A racing team’s redesigned Eldorado, by Zagato

Concept Car of the Week: L’Oeuf Electrique (1942)

The mother of all bubble cars has something to say to us about the car of the future

Concept Car of the Week: The Kar-A-Sutra (1972)

Bizarre, hideous, yet enormously influential

Concept Car of the Week: Stout Scarab (1936)

William Bushnell Stout took inspiration from aviation to create the world’s first minivan the Stout Scarab. The Scarab recently acted as inspiration for the Hyundai Prophecy concept (2020)

Concept Car of the Week: Ford Indigo (1996)

Twenty years ago, Ford predicted an IndyCar in every garage

Rinspeed previews a 2017 concept car – complete with space to grow plants

Interesting Oasis concept will debut at January’s CES in Las Vegas

Concept Car of the Week: General Motors Firebird IV/Buick Century Cruiser (1964/1969)

General Motors' Firebird IV concept promised a future where cars drove themselves

Corvette Rondine (1963)

Tom Tjaarda’s design for the other 1963 Corvette

Lincoln Quicksilver (1983)

A forgotten concept from an era of radical aerodynamic experiments

Concept Car of the Week: Colani Ferrari Testa D’oro (1989)

A record-breaking aerodynamic fantasy created by design’s ‘nutty professor’

Concept Car of the Week: Opel Trixx (2004)

A look back at GM’s attempt at a smarter Smart city car

Concept Car of the Week: Volvo YCC (2004)

The car designed by an all-female team that raised some important questions as well as eyebrows

Concept Car of the Week: Vauxhall Equus (1978)

Wayne Cherry’s favourite car: “the most uncompromised design I’ve ever worked on”

Concept Car of the Week: Ford Seattle-ite XXI (1962)

Ford’s vision for spaceage, nuclear-powered cross-country driving

Concept Car of the Week: Autobianchi A112 Giovani (1973)

A look back at the one-off concept Pininfarina designed for new drivers in 1973

Concept Car of the Week: Ford Aurora (1964)

Launched at the World’s Fair in 1964, the Aurora was Ford’s vision of the family hauler for the baby boomers

Concept Car Of The Week: Stola S81 ‘Stratos’ (2000)

What happens when the original creator attempts to revisit one of their past masterpieces?

Concept Car Of The Week: Corvette Nivola [Bertone] (1990)

A mid-engined Corvette concept with Italian Flair

Concept Car of the Week: Bertone Saab Novanta (2002)

Italian firm’s 90th birthday present to itself, via Sweden

Concept Car of the Week: New York Taxi (1976)

The seminal monovolume that spurred on Giugiaro’s most creative period

Concept Car of the Week: Nissan Chappo (2001)

The issue of the automobile in the megacity of tomorrow has been on automakers’ agenda for the last decade now. Plenty of questions are still being debated – What will power this car? Will it be autonomous? What will its architecture need to be? And what will an urban design language look like?

Concept Car of the Week: Daihatsu X-021 (1991)

Tiny rival to the Mazda MX-5 that was destined not to be

Concept Car of the Week: Oldsmobile Expression (1990)

The concept that aimed to revive the estate car with the help of a built-in Nintendo – the Oldsmobile Expression

New Car: BMW 2002 Hommage

This Villa d’Este concept celebrates 50 years since the original BMW 2002 was launched

Concept Car of the Week: Pininfarina X (1960)

The diamond layout, low drag family car that challenged the status quo

Concept Car of the Week: Porsche Boxster (1993)

Revisiting the concept that kickstarted Porsche’s road to recovery

Concept Car of the Week: BMW Mille Miglia Coupe (2006)

An object lesson in using the past as an impetus for creativity

Concept Car of the Week: Suzuki Mobile Terrace (2003)

The anti-car mobile room that continues to appeal

Concept Car of the Week: Dodge Super8 Hemi (2001)

Revisiting the concept that evoked the cars of pre-Interstate America

Concept Car of the Week: Lancia Dialogos (1998)

The Lancia Dialogos was a biomorphic, neo-classical vision of a next-millennium sedan

Concept Car of the Week: Jaguar Kensington (1990)

The Kensington was Giugiaro’s vision for a modern Jaguar that made production a decade later and half a world away

Concept Car of the Week: Chevrolet Aerovette (1976)

The mid-engined Corvette concept that swapped rotary for V8 power

Concept Car of the Week: Mitsubishi SE-RO (2003)

Mitsubishi’s noughties dieselpunk showcar used the 1950s to predict the future

Concept Car(s) of the Week: Ferrari 250 P5 (1968) & Alfa Romeo Tipo 33/2 Coupe Speciale (1969)

Car Design News revisits the Ferrari and Alfa Romeo showcars that shared far more than Italian heritage

Concept Car of the Week: Mazda MX-81 Aria (1981)

Marc Deschamp’s Mazda MX-81 Aria coupé featured one of the most unusual steering wheels of all time

Concept Car of the Week: Renault Scenic (1991)

The Renault Scenic concept was designer Anne Asensio’s genre-defining new type of family car

Concept Car of the Week: Scion Hako (2008)

With news of the brand’s closure, Car Design News revisits Scion’s best concept car, the Hako

Concept Car of the Week: Citroën Eole (1986)

Introduced at the 1986 Geneva Motor Show, the Eole was a four-passenger luxury wagon based on the production CX. But while that car had its roots in the 1970s, the Eole was an exploration of where the genre might go in the next decade and beyond

Concept Car of the Week: Lancia Medusa (1980)

At the 1980 Turin auto show, Giugiaro again showed the world how the family car might progress over the next decade with the Lancia Medusa concept

Concept Car of the Week: Volkswagen Concept 1 (1994)

J Mays and Freeman Thomas resurrect the Beetle to help rebuild VW’s US reputation

Concept Car of the Week: Chevrolet California Camaro IROC-Z (1989)

The ‘running sketch in steel’ that rebooted the muscle car genre

Concept Car of the Week: Mazda Senku (2005)

Recalling the last time Mazda’s Tokyo show star came with added global appeal

Is this one of the very best Pininfarina concept cars? By Peter Stevens

Tracing Abarth’s impact on design since the 1969 Turin Motor Show

Concept Car of the Week: GM Futurliner (1939)

The 1938 Buick Y-Job is rightly famous for being the world’s first concept car. But while the Y-Job was being created by Harley Earl and the designers at GM’s newly-named Styling Division, the team was also working on a project much larger in scale: the Futurliner

Concept Car of the Week: Audi Avus (1991)

J Mays’ wildly-proportioned supercar that found its identity in its heritage

Concept Car of the Week: Renault Ondelios (2008)

A forgotten and misunderstood crossover that has clearly had a wider influence

Concept Car of the Week: Jeep Treo (2003)

Three-seat micro machine set out to outdo the Japanese on their home turf

Concept Car of the Week: Chrysler D’Elegance (1952)

The Chrysler concept that would become a Volkswagen

Concept Car of the Week: Ford Probe V (1985)

The Prove V was first shown at the Frankfurt Motor Show back in 1985, and was arguably one of Ford’s most radical concept cars

Concept Car of the Week: Lancia Megagamma (1978)

Visitors to the 1978 Turin Auto show expected the latest Giugiaro sports car concept. Instead, they were shocked to see a truncated version of Lancia’s Gamma fastback sedan. What was it? A little utility van? A stumpy estate wagon? With the Megagamma, the Italian maestro had in fact invented the MPV

Concept Car of the Week: Volkswagen NILS (2011)

Looking back at the Volkswagen NILS one of the many highlights Frankfurt Motor Show has given us over the years

Concept Car of the Week: Pininfarina Ethos 1 and 2 (1992, 1993)

Exterior designer Stephane Schwarz talks us through two of his early works at Pininfarina

Design Development: Volkswagen Sport Coupé Concept GTE

The Volkswagen CC’s upmarket, grown-up, powerful and quick sibling

Concept Car of the Week: Ford Zig and Zag (1990)

The Ford Zig and Zag concepts were shown at the 1990 Geneva motor show

Concept Car of the Week: Citroën Activa I (1988)

A look back at the big Citroën built to show off some pretty high-tech hydropneumatics

Xeno III - The Personal Concept Car

The Xeno III, the culmination of a decade of design and engineering development, was unveiled at Art Center College of Design on January 26.

Concept Car of the Week: Mazda Nagare (2006)

A look back at the concept car that went with the flow

Concept Car of the Week: Chrysler CCV (1997)

The lightweight, low cost concept that owed more than a little to the Citroën 2CV

Concept Car of the Week: Maserati Boomerang (1972)

In 1972, Giorgetto Giugiaro created one of the most futuristic wedge-shaped concepts of all – the Maserati Boomerang

Concept Car of the Week: Fiat VSS I.DE.A (1981)

Architect Renzo Piano’s early take on the modular car

BMW GINA concept - 2008

The BMW Gina concept uses a flexible textile cover to form its outside skin

Concept Car of the Week: Fiat Scia (1993)

Although based on the Punto, the Fiat Scia looked so much more with its boat-like body shape and enticing stature

Concept Car of the Week: Saab 9X (2001)

Saab’s 9X concept opened up new dimensions in car design

Concept Car of the Week: Italdesign Columbus (1992)

Italdesign’s interpretation of a deluxe MPV, the voluminous and implausible Columbus, debuted at the Turin Motor show in 1992. It was one of those concepts that remained just that but Car Design News is very much a fan

Design Review: Volvo YCC concept

Launched in 2004, the Volvo YCC (Your Concept Car) was a landmark in automotive design in that it was created by and all-woman team

Concept Car of the Week: Mercedes F200 Imagination (1996)

Packed with futuristic tech, this concept previewed the face of the 1998 W220 S-Class

Concept Car of the Week: Volvo Tundra (1979)

In 2013, Volvo unveiled the Concept Coupé – a good reason for Flavien Dachet to take a look back at another Volvo coupé concept from 1979 – the Tundra

Concept Car of the Week: Citroën Karin (1980)

Designed to seat a wife and mistress, the Karin remains a bold statement from Citroën design

Design review: Mazda Furai concept

The Mazda Furai concept was developed at the Mazda North American Operations design studio

Design Development: Saab Aero X concept

‘The ultimate vision for the brand’. This was the simple brief for the Saab Aero X concept car shown at the Geneva motor show in 2006. And the Aero X is what the Saab brand wanted to be, what the brand wanted to communicate through the design of its cars.

Concept Car of the Week: Cadillac Sixteen (2003)

A stunning 2003 concept from Cadillac, in the Art and Science design language

Concept Car of the Week: Lancia Stratos Zero (1970)

The Lancia Stratos Zero took the 1970 Turin Motor Show by storm, propelling designer Marcello Gandini into superstardom

Concept Car of the Week: Italdesign Capsula (1982)

In the mid-1970s, Giorgetto Giugiaro experimented with vehicles that maximised space efficiency; prioritising interior volume, while reducing the exterior footprint. But this idea of space-efficient modularity was taken to its extreme with the Capsula