Concept Cars
April 14, 2009 6:20 AM   Subscribe

Why do most car companies never realize their great, innovative and funny car concepts? Instead they repeat the same old designs over and over again.
posted by Smaaz (21 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: Why do most spammers never make posts in good faith? Instead they post dickcheese self-links and get their asses banned. -- cortex



 
Here's why.
posted by punkfloyd at 6:22 AM on April 14, 2009 [1 favorite]


(Full disclosure: I actually like the Aston Martin Lagonda for its bizarre proportions... but many did not)
posted by punkfloyd at 6:24 AM on April 14, 2009


Because car companies are companies and companies attempt to maximize net incoming dollars, not any other factor.
posted by DU at 6:24 AM on April 14, 2009


It's because the creatives are on the second floor, and the suits are on the tenth.
posted by pwally at 6:28 AM on April 14, 2009




That magnet car is bad-ass. Shame so many of these things seem to fall into the category of the chicken-and-egg : infrastructure-and-car paradox format.
posted by six-or-six-thirty at 6:28 AM on April 14, 2009


I'm sad that Ford never went any further with their Ford Forty Nine.
posted by NoMich at 6:31 AM on April 14, 2009


Because they still can't get off the ground.
posted by netbros at 6:34 AM on April 14, 2009


Because not all of us are 18 and consider radical impracticality a selling point.
posted by oddman at 6:35 AM on April 14, 2009


The biggest problem I see with almost all concept cars is the horrible visibility. I'd hate to have to maneuver one of those things in a parking lot.
posted by Galvatron at 6:37 AM on April 14, 2009


Is this supposed to be in AskMe?
posted by TypographicalError at 6:37 AM on April 14, 2009


Surely the Ford Forty-Nine influenced this.
posted by punkfloyd at 6:39 AM on April 14, 2009


There's a few reasons.

First off, a lot of these "concepts" are just doodles with no relation to real-world issues. Half the stuff in that "great" link is someone noodling around with a 3D program, for instance. Even the stuff done by people within the car companies has a lot of crazy doodling with no worries about reality. As you start to bring a concept into something practical, you have to make compromises with existing solutions and processes.
Using magnetic power, the vehicle uses an electric engine that has a polarity which is the same as in road.
The concept car’s powered by electricity or hydrogen
The final projects of the Transportation Design students at Turin-based IED, developed in partnership with BMW with the goal of creating a car for 2015 interpreting the language evolution and the brand’s philosophy.
(Hell, I think all three of those links are to compilations of the work design students with a 'future car' project to do. These kids have no more grasp of, or concern with, the realities of engineering than I did when I was five and drew a car powered by "popcorn" according to my labels.)

Second, they have to pass through executives and focus groups and whatnot. And all of those factors will water down an idea a lot. I've seen it first-hand in the animation industry; I'm sure the car industry is no different. Anything the least bit unusual and daring gets thrown out when you have five layers of management that feels they have to say something to justify their salary; everyone rubs off a corner until there's nothing sharp left, and then they ask why it isn't "edgy" any more.
posted by egypturnash at 6:40 AM on April 14, 2009 [2 favorites]


The Ford 021c looks very Jetsons Yugoslavia.
posted by swift at 6:42 AM on April 14, 2009


I think the bigger question should be "Why do most contemporary concept cars look like they came out of the same couple of freshman design classes?"
posted by Thorzdad at 6:43 AM on April 14, 2009


Why do most car companies never realize their great ugly, innovative unfeasible and funny undoubtedly expensive car concepts?

FTFY
posted by Plutor at 6:45 AM on April 14, 2009


Fossil fuels are limited and that will keep most car dreams just a concept in the future.
posted by rough ashlar at 7:02 AM on April 14, 2009


In no possible universe is this anything but an abomination (even though it's one of the more feasible concepts on the page).
posted by echo target at 7:03 AM on April 14, 2009


Because the wilder your design is, the more it requires custom tooling on the part of your factories, and the more it requires your suppliers to design new products and the means to build them, and that drives the cost of parts up, and drives the cost of assembly up, and it makes your car considerably more expensive than everybody else's.

And after you've dropped half a billion bucks or so on a new product (after all the design, sourcing, manufacture, assembly, and distribution challenges, nevermind the iterative safety and emissions tests), you've still got to convince your dealer networks to sell your product, and come up with a marketing campaign.

If you're willing to stake that much money and human effort on behalf of a car design so wild that it's immediately polarizing and you can't even tell whether the public will warm to it or despise it, go nuts. But don't expect anybody to invest in your company when it's already on the skids.

More of the same sucks, I agree. And I don't think any of the current crop of American cars are visually appealing at all. But I'm sympathetic with the Big Three for not wanting to take any dramatic risks in their products right now: Even the Chevy Volt looks like yet another bigassed American sedan, rather than the sleek new vehicle of the future. It might not end up selling enough to thrive, and it's not going to sell to anybody who prefers a Prius or Mini, but it's going to sell hybrid cars to a segment of people who currently think hybrids are for weenies.
posted by ardgedee at 7:12 AM on April 14, 2009


Hoo boy am I liking that Ford / Airstream teamup. Also, the 021c. Hoo boy.
posted by kingbenny at 7:19 AM on April 14, 2009


Car companies don't make weird cars because people mostly don't buy them. People don't like to take big chances when they spend a half-year's income on a single product.

We've gotten poor -- most of us have to buy on credit, and if we don't like the car, we're stuck with it for a long, long time.
posted by Malor at 7:22 AM on April 14, 2009


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