#ConceptCar

Yes, we know – this is (yet another) concept vehicle that bears little to no reality toward anything its namesake will ever build. And it’s being hawked by a brand with precisely zero consumer presence in this country. So what is it doing on the landing page of our site?

Because just look at the thing! That’s why!

Like it or not, electric vehicles are arriving en masse to the American car market. Chrysler hauled the wraps off its Airflow Concept at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January , appearing in typical ‘electric car white’ as part of its parent company’s wide-reaching EV Day presentations. Now, the brand’s stylists have slipped that car into a photo-inversion machine, showing in a black body color with copper accents.

Today, Lexus dropped the LF-Z concept car, stepping on the electric-vehicle (EV) accelerator. By 2025, the company expects to have 20 new PHEV, HEV, and BEV models from which to choose.

Orange Peelz, one of a half-dozen Jeep concepts unveiled at Easter Jeep Safari, is quite possibly the easiest to replicate and drive on a daily basis. A two-door Wrangler, it uses Jeep Performance Parts (JPP) prototype half doors and a custom removable sunroof to let the sunshine in.

Nearly 30 years ago, Infiniti introduced the first-generation Q45 — a remarkable flagship sedan packed with performance and technology but whose rocks-and-trees ad campaign went on to become a staple of “what not to do” in undergrad marketing courses across the land.

Infiniti pulled the plug on its flagship after the 2006 model year, following poor sales performances that plumbed the depths of Excel charts heretofore unknown to any model since the Lincoln Blackwood.

Which was unfortunate because the Q, by and large, was an excellent car. Now, there appears to be a good chance we’ll see a new Infiniti flagship sedan, perhaps as soon as the Detroit Auto Show in January.

Those of you who are regulars of the Rare Rides series will no doubt remember the thrashing we gave another similar-era Jimmy a while back. And if you’re not regulars of Rare Rides, then you’re doing TTAC incorrectly and your life is a shambles. Fix it!

Anyway, this Jimmy here is a custom vehicle, a one-off General Motors’ idea that didn’t make it to production. So come along now as we explore the rare wonder of the Gypsy Street Coupe.

Brace yourself. Detroit is coming. Car blogs will be bursting with news and hot takes from frosty southeast Michigan as the North American International Auto Show opens on Monday. Every utterance from any executive will be tweeted, every statement will be parsed, and every press release will be copied and pasted.

Naturally, TTAC will be there in force. And while the numerous reveals of production-ready cars will be the highlight for most, I’m personally looking forward to the concepts. The weird, the funky, or even the batshit crazy — those far-from-production ideas are what make the major auto shows great.

TTAC commenter gimmiemanual writes:

I was living in China in late 2009, and decided to take scuba classes so I could dive the Great Barrier Reef.

My open water course was done in Qiandao Lake, outside of Shanghai, and this picture was on the wall of my (terrible) local hotel room.

I offered to buy it for what everyone with me considered a ridiculous amount, but the owner absolutely refused to sell it to me. I’ve lazily looked through the internet, but have been unable to figure out what it is.

Faraday Future revealed its FFZERO1 Concept in Las Vegas on Monday night. It is a striking artifact that continues to keep the company’s product plans mysterious. This “car of concepts,” as Head of Design Richard Kim called it, is an extreme expression containing select elements that foreshadow the company’s production vehicles.

We now know that Faraday Future (they like to be called FF) can design a theoretical 200+ mph, 1,000 horsepower, single-seat hypercar. Even in a world full of extreme cars, this one looks futuristic. But this is not an attempt to compete with Bugatti, Koenigsegg, or Ascari. It’s an extreme test-bed, right down to the drag reducing, heat-dissipating pair of see-through “aero-tunnels” channeling air directly through the vehicle.

The latest crop of Jeep concepts for the Easter Jeep Safari have dropped. My favorite is the Wrangler Africa, which should finally settle the question of whether it’s worth lusting after the Land Rover Defender when we get the Wrangler (my own feeling is “no”, but tell me why I’m wrong.

After showing off the beautiful Peugeot Exalt at a previous auto salon, embattled PSA is showing that the spectre of death breathing down their neck has really focused the company’s attention.At the 2014 Paris Salon, Citroën’s sub-brand DS has prepared an arguably even more stunning concept, the very aptly named Divine.

The most famous Holden product to ever wear a Buick badge is the Chinese-market Park Avenue, a car that Buick dealers inexplicably rejected. But back in the mid-1990s, GM apparently planned to use the VT Commodore architecture as the basis for a new Buick sedan, previewed in the XP2000 concept above.

Almost exactly one month after TTAC first broached news of a possible compact rear-drive Chevrolet, TTAC commenter and GM North America vice-president Mark Reuss is still dropping hints about such a product.

Spencer writes:

Dear Sajeev,

Are there any examples of concept cars which, while not representative of the vehicles in the manufacturer’s immediate lineup, actually become something of a reality five or ten years down the line? More specifically, can you provide some images of concept cars that actually look like the cars we have on the road today (Isuzu VehiCROSS and similarly rare instances to be omitted, I suppose). Thanks!