QOTD: What Production Car Didn't Deliver On Its Concept's Promise?

Mark Stevenson
by Mark Stevenson

There’s nothing better in this business than a concept car to stir my imagination.

I can visualize myself in a brand new wondermobile as I crest a hill before diving into the next bend, holding a starship steering wheel (or maybe I am just kicking back and relaxing in some mechanical automaton), surrounded by glass and Star Trek-esque touchpanels with commands such as SPORT, HYPERBOOST, and OIL SLICK.

Yet, when those fancy-shmancy concepts make their way to production, sometimes their essence is lost. Other times, what arrives on the dealer lot is a completely different car altogether.

The Chevrolet Volt Concept from 2007 was one of these wondermobiles conceived by very smart people at General Motors. Between Bob Lutz and a team of designers, we were teased with what you see above. At the time, the Volt Concept offered up some very interesting design cues not seen anywhere else, such as the transparent panels in front of the windows, giving the car a seemingly lower beltline.

What we got was entirely different. Between the bean counters and aerodynamicists, the Volt, with its aggressive fascia and long-hood proportions turned into an amorphous blob. Gone were all details that made the concept such a compelling eye-catcher.

Lowered beltline? Nope. Chevrolet decided to add a black strip of plastic instead to give it the impression of having a lowered beltline. Coupe profile? Gone. Big wheels? See ya. Long, flat hood? Nadda.

The Volt went from electrified phallic four-door coupe to energized egg in one foul swoop.

What’s worse: the newest Volt looks almost exactly like a Honda Civic. Say goodbye, personality.

So, Best & Brightest, what production cars do you think lacked delivery on its concept’s promise?

Mark Stevenson
Mark Stevenson

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  • I_S I_S on Jun 02, 2015

    Not a concept - Honda's concepts are essentially production cars - but I remember getting excited seeing the mockups of the current gen Civic - until I realized that the real thing looks way less aggressive and is made of plastic.

  • Dgodshal Dgodshal on Jun 02, 2015

    Shelby GR-1. Designed but not produced. Almost criminal!

  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
  • Jalop1991 what, no Turbo trim?
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