The problem is, many of these concepts are simple design studies that never see a production line. Here are five such vehicles, some of which have been canned already and some that might still make it to production:
- Toyota 86 Shooting Brake Concept: The motoring side of the web has been abuzz of late with news of a shooting brake version of Toyota’s 86 sportscar. The vehicle was unveiled in Australia as a design study. However, it’s been said that the market’s reaction to the vehicle may nudge the Japanese auto giant to put this looker into production;
- Volkswagen Golf R400: The Golf R400 has been one of the most spoken about vehicles over the past year. For the most part we feel that everyone wants to see a 300kW production Golf and see if its makers would be willing to construct something as radical. However, with financial troubles plaguing the company - after the emission scandal last year - the project has been canned. The good news is that its impressive powerplant is likely to feature in future Audi products;
- Jaguar C-X75: Back in 2010 Jaguar showed us the C-X75 concept car, a two-seat super car that had four electric motors, one driving each wheel, which were charged by diesel gas turbines for a combined output of 582kW/1 600Nm. The project was cancelled in 2012 after many of us thought that a limited run of these were being built. This could have been the car to take on the “holy trinity” as the McLaren P1, Porsche 918 Spyder and LaFerrari, are called;
- Hyundai Santa Cruze Crossover truck concept: We love the H100 bakkie, locally; it’s dependable and robust and is, along with the Getz, one of the reasons why the Hyundai brand has such a good name. Our bakkie-mad nation would lap up this Santa Cruze concept if it appeared locally. Production may be on the cards with Hyundai even revealing certain petrol and diesel engine options;
- Ford Evos concept: The Evos was an achingly pretty hybrid-powered concept from 2011. We figure the same 2.3-litre EcoBoost engine from the new Mustang and Focus RS would make this both a looker and a performer. Unfortunately, this vehicle will never see production as it was produced to demonstrate the brand’s new design language.
