#Concepts

For ages, Jeep has been using the fan-directed Easter Jeep Safari in Moab as an opportunity to show off working concepts to brand faithful. This year is no different, with four machines appearing on the slickrock.

Billed as the next steps in Fiat’s product lineup, the brand has hauled the (digital) sheets off an array of new models which are all said to share a common global platform.

Hyundai Motor Group have introduced a novel snow chain that’s integrated directly into the tire. The design allows drivers to deploy the system at the push of a button, allowing drivers to sidestep some of the disadvantages associated with installing snow chains.

LOS ANGELES -- In addition to the updated 2024 Sorento, Kia has unveiled two concepts today at the 2023 Los Angeles Auto Show -- the EV3 and EV4.

Despite – or perhaps because of – headlines musing about the state of Infiniti’s current offerings, the brand is using the Tokyo Motor Show to introduce a raft of new product. Some are concepts, some are production-ish, and all apparently point the way forward in terms of design.

The annual Easter Jeep Safari to Moab, Utah, is almost upon us, and Jeep dropped seven concepts on us in advance of the event. Four are electrified.

While the Hyundai Ioniq 6 has retained quite a bit from its conceptual precursor, some of the most interesting aspects of the Prophecy EV failed to carry over. The production Ioniq 6 looks less like the Phantom Corsair the concept had been channeling and more like a remastered Citroën DS – which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Gone are the pixel tail lights, the flowing, seamless bodywork, and abundant minimalism that made the concept feel like a modern interpretation of the futuristic notions swirling prior to World War II. Also absent are the twin joysticks Hyundai envisioned the model using as its primary controls. However, the manufacturer may not be through with those just yet, since there’s apparently a U.S. patent filing for them.

On Wednesday, BMW revealed the color-changing i Vision Dee concept during its keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2023 held in Las Vegas – showcasing a bevy of novel technologies the automaker would like to see installed into its future products. While some of these seemed grounded in reality, with the Bavarian brand’s chairman already confirming their implementation on its forthcoming “Neue Klasse” vehicle platform, others items were so fantastical that it would be difficult to imagine them making it to production vehicles.

LOS ANGELES – Lost in all the Prius hoopla is the Toyota bZ SUV concept.

The brand chose the show as a prime (get it?) opportunity to show a batter-electric SUV that could, and almost certainly does, preview a future vehicle for its lineup. Building off the bZ4X EV, this concept also showcases the use of “green” materials. The seats are made from plant-based materials, for example, and recycled materials are also used.

Early November isn't the only time the automotive world looks towards Las Vegas.

Sin City finds itself back in the spotlight every January for the Consumer Electronics Show. Automakers have long had a significant presence at CES, and now a report suggests Ram will be taking the wraps off of an EV concept there.

As the Chrysler LX platform heads toward its demise after the 2023 model year, Rare Rides Icons is making its way through the various large-ish vehicles that used the platform these past two decades. The starting point for this series are the original LX concepts that never made production. We covered the Airflite (basically a Crossfire hardtop hatchback) last week. And today we’ll take a look at the larger, more luxurious, and more obscure Nassau concept (of which there were two).

Who else but Dodge could be trusted to design and patent an honest-to-Mopar exhaust system for an electric car? Hell-bent on the concept that their customers are intent on continuing their raucous ways long after the last internal combustion engine has gone silent, Dodge figures their target market wants to announce their presence instead of gliding silently into the room.

As someone smack in the middle of this demographic and holding the keys to a V8-powered Challenger,  I feel compelled to say they may have a point.

We pick up our Lamborghini front-engine grand touring coverage at a time of design disappointments. Though the exotic Miura gave the company instant notoriety as it simultaneously created the super car class, the company’s other model was due for replacement. A more traditional looking two-door, the 400GT 2+2 was an edit of the 400GT Interim (2+1), which was itself an engine upgrade on the 350GT, the company’s first production car.

Ferruccio Lamborghini anticipated the need for a new design, and went in search of a 400GT replacement around the time it entered production in 1966. Lamborghini turned first to Carrozzeria Touring. But even though they penned the 350GT and 400GT designs, their two-seat shooting brake suggestion, Flying Star II, was not to Lamborghini’s taste.

In fact it was sort of like Touring didn’t read the prompt. An abandoned race car design called the 400GT Monza from Neri & Bonacini was also presented as an option. The firm built Lamborghini’s tube frames a few years before, but that didn’t lend them enough goodwill at Lamborghini to get their design accepted. Time for take three!

Lincoln is promising three new fully-electric vehicles by 2025. Ford’s luxury arm took the wraps off of a concept previewing one of them last night.

Not to be outdone by corporate siblings Hyundai and Genesis, which have announced plans to launch 17 electric, or at least electrified, vehicles combined by 2030, Kia has claimed it will have 14 EVs (or, again, vehicles that at least have some electrification) by 2027.

Including two pickup trucks.