Where Have All The Concept Cars Gone?
As I spent the second media day of the 2010 New York International Auto Show inspecting cars for our Winners & Losers feature, something struck me: There weren’t any concept cars here. Well, there were a few left over from past shows, like GMC’s Granite, but no automaker debuted a concept car specifically for the Big Apple’s big show.
Instead, we were running around to cover more than 20 new production models slated for sale in the next six to nine months, like the Kia Optima and Nissan Juke. The Juke may be the reason why we don’t have concept cars. Production cars themselves are starting to look wilder than concepts of the past, the Juke being the best example. But it all started with the resurrection of the Ford Mustang earlier this decade. The new Chevy Camaro followed, mimicking its concept shape perfectly.
But there’s no escaping the one factor that is likely moving this needle more than any other. It’s the economy, stupid.
“Cost really matters, and where R&D is spent is a scarce resource these days, so the concept vehicles are closer to production than what we’ve seen in the past,” said Jeff Schuster, director of vehicles forecasting for J.D. Power & Associates.
Luckily for car show-goers, even the most boring of segments, like the midsize sedan, is being treated to production models that look futuristic, like the Kia Optima above. But is that enough to replace the wild concept cars of old?
