A concept car is a prototype that showcases a new concept, style or technology. They are often shown at motor shows to guage customer reaction to radical new ideas. Concept cars never go into production directly, as often they are inteded to ‘show off’ what a company can do. The first ever concept car was the Buick Y-Job in 1938, however since then, technology and innovation has changed dramatically. Here are 5 of some of the most innovative concept cars in recent times.

Magnet Car

The Magnet Car was designed by Mat˙ö Proch·czka as a solution to the challenge of finding more fuel efficient methods of transport. This car uses magnets the same polarity as the road, which effectively ‘lifts’ the car off the road, making it lighter by 50%. Of course, this is a true ‘concept car’, as magnetised roads are a purely hypothetical idea, and yet to be realised.

Audi Locus

Turkish designer Ugur Sahin descirbed the main feature of the car as “the way its surface shapes are formed with continous flow”. He also comments that he was inspired by nature, in that there are no straight lines in nature. Its most outstanding features is the roof, which combines the windshield and the rear window into one continous glass surface. In Sahin’s words, he wanted to create a car that “creates a relaxing, energetic, vibrant and confident feeling”.

BRB Evolution

The BRB Evolution, designed by Daniel Bailey, has two innovative features to combat the changing issues in the future of urban transport. Firstly, it is powered by electricity and a hydrogen fuel cell, which would reduce pollution. Secondly, and arguably the most creative, it has the ability to fold to 50% of its original size, to help with the anticipated limited car-parking space in the future of big cities.

Audi RSQ Concept

This car, designed especially for the motion picture I, Robot and was intended as an amitious product placement rather than be actually built. It’s features include being a mid-engined sports car, its two doors are rear-hinged to the C-posts of the body and open according to the butterfly principle.

Audi O

This concept car was designed in 2008 by Ondrej Jirec, a design student from the Czech Republic. The car features glass windows running along the bottom edge which produces a unique profile view of the car. It is primarily intended to fuse a powerful audio system with a sporty hatchback design and as such, has DJ mixing decks, a double firewall surrounding the engine to block external noise, and the ability to download music from the internet on the go.

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