What's your favourite concept car? PH Blog

Ollie's raided the archives for his favourite far fetched concepts - what are yours?

Concepts have been a fixture of motoring since the very beginning, where designers have always been looking ahead and trying to improve. And, well, some have been better than others, right? Here we'll have a look at a few of our favourites.

Not just the old concepts that were mad!

Concepts really took off after World War II, as the technology around plastics, alloys and fibreglass aided the evolution of design and allowed more adventurous designs to become a reality. The great design houses like Bertone, Pininfarina and Zagato became ever more adventurous, working with manufacturers to produce wild and exciting concepts. Some even made it to production; think Lamborghini Miura.

It wasn't just style that took a turn for the mad back then, with concept engines becoming every sillier too: see the nuclear Ford Seattle ITE XXI. Who wouldn't fancy a go in a six-wheeled nuclear Ford?

And don't think the daft concepts have stopped in the 21st century. Just today Toyota revealed its gloriously odd Setsuna, a car made primarily of wood to "capture the developing relationship between people and their cars in the way it changes in appearance over the years." Anyone else sort of drawn to it? Just me?

What's fascinating to think is how fairly recent concepts will influence our production reality in years to come; think of cars like the Mercedes BIOME, said to be "designed as a vehicle which is fully integrated into the ecosystem". There's the stunning BMW GINA too, featuring an outer skin comprising of a flexible, stretchable water resistant translucent man-made fabric. Might make Sunday morning cleaning a little different...

A look into the future?

Anyway, I think concepts are very interesting; sometimes ridiculous, sometimes quite relevant, they're always a talking point. In the office there's a lot of love for the Mercedes C111, the BMW CSL Hommage, Lamborghini Cala, Peugeot Onyx, Renault Dezir, Ford GT90, Ferrari 512S Speciale and Mazda Furai amongst others.

My favourite concept is one firmly from the old school though: the Bertone Stratos Zero. A stunning concept to begin with, it eventually became one of the great road and rally Lancias too. A true legend.

So they're our picks from the decades of concepts; no doubt there are plenty more we could have mentioned! What would you pick as your favourite? We'd love to hear them.

Ollie