The difference between concept cars and production cars is much more than just cars that exist vs. cars that don’t; concept cars are a rendition of designers wildest thoughts etched out onto a tangible medium – they are the cars we wish we had. There are no limits save for the boundaries of your own mind. When designing a production car, a multitude of considerations must be accounted for – this is extremely hampering to not only styling but performance. An outline of pre-defined target criteria dictates how much freedom of design can be incorporated into the aesthetic styling. That’s why the concept of the newest production car never looks like the actual production car, but usually much, much cooler.

When you’re designing a car for laughs though, one that was intended to be conceptualized solely for the sake of having a concept, you break free from the boundaries of constraint and the imagination becomes your sole design studio; your mind’s eye, your test course. This no-holds-barred approach to car design opens up the doorway to an infinite realm of possibilities from nuclear-fusion powered cars to some of the wildest body lines you’ve ever seen. Science has pretty much just about perfected aerodynamics for sub-sonic projectiles and notwithstanding the need for actual components to be shrouded by those body panels, people have come up with some pretty wild cars; ones we can only dream of seeing on the road one day. The car of the future is here today.

20 Jaguar LMP1

carthrottle.com

Quite possibly one of the wildest and meanest looking concepts you have ever seen, the Jaguar LMP1 Le Mans concept rendering takes the GT racing to new heights and over new horizons with a tiny 2.7L diesel V-8 specially purposed for endurance racing.

The extreme body design is carefully crafted to control airflow, minimizing drag and inducing cooling appropriately while an engine-supercharger and exhaust driven turbo work in tandem for unholy heaps of power.

Structural batteries that consist of a charge-holding medium in between two carbon layers will replace the heavy, standard batteries and regenerative braking will help keep the batteries charged through the circuit.

19 Toyota GR Super Sport

drivemag.com

Brace yourselves fossil fuel lovers; Toyota is spearheading an advance to electrify racing with “cutting-edge hybrid systems and electrified vehicle systems.” Although this may be the racing of the future, nothing will replace the rumble of 344 cylinders pumping out 34,400hp between 43 cars as they fly by at 200mph. Imagining the rush of cars flying by with only the faint hum of electric motors and tire noise is just blasphemy – and we’ll miss real racing when its gone. Nonetheless, the GR Super Sport is still a rad car; the 2.4L twin-turbo V-6 coupled with the THS-R (Toyota Hybrid System – Racing) driveline will aim to deliver 985hp for all of us – not just race teams. Yes, the GR Super Sport is intended for street-legal use as well.

18 E-Formula

theverge.com

In case you didn’t know, electric cars are creeping out silently from behind in the bushes. Forcefully interweaving itself into the fabric of necessity, they are quickly starting to gain favor amidst an increasingly environmentally-conscious populous.

It helps when they aren’t as watered-down and lame as the Prius.

Spark Racing Technologies is responsible for the current car that runs the series and this is their new concept design intended to keep momentum behind the electric racing spearhead with fresh meat for fans. Currently drivers must swap cars mid-race as the battery packs can’t sustain sufficient enough charge to complete it but McLaren, Sony and Lucid Motors have endurance battery packs in the works.

17 Formula BMW

classicfactory.ch

Maybe not as sleek as the E Formula runners we just saw, the BMW concept is an open-wheel design that throws asserts a much more retro attitude; maybe not as hi-tech looking as the SRT designs but it’s BMW so we can’t write it off. Unfortunately, this looks nothing like the direction BMW is going and their iFE18 Formula E concept looks much different. Although impressive, it’s just another concept of a formula design of modern times, indicative of BMW’s desire to stay abreast with the latest racing trends. Either way, the retro ‘50s throwback rendering is such a cool design to look at we can only hope someone picks it up and runs with it somewhere along the line.

16 Lamborghini Terzo Millennio

pinterest.com

Meaning third millennium, the Terzo Millennio is a Lamborghini for the future. Unsurprisingly, the standards were extremely high for an EV hypercar that would carry the brand’s nameplate and represent their venture into the future of super-high performance automobiles.

The rolling technical test bed has ever-so-faint hints of Bugatti headlight styling, although only mildly apparent from certain angles.

The requirement for the Terzo was pretty straightforward – it must exceed 186mph with the capability to run three hot Nordschliefe laps. Why three? Because by that time a new set of tires is needed; that’s how fast it’ll shred perfectly good rubber.

15 Nuclear Quattro

autoevolution.com

With the advent of successful alternative fuels being used in cars we begin our journey away from fossil fuels and into the unknown. In the search of a suitable replacement, there are some promising ideas, some unfeasible ideas, and some plain bad ideas. But one idea exists that sounds about as good as boarding a cabin mounted to the bottom of a seven million cubic foot bag of hydrogen; the Mesarthim F-Tron proposes to use nuclear fusion energy powerful enough to light up a neighborhood. Perhaps it’s good that the cost of such a design is extremely prohibitive; has Chernobyl taught us nothing?

14 Mazda Furai

automobilesreview.com

So named after the sound of wind, the Furai was designed to run E100 ethanol feeding a three-rotor 20B wankel design with a target horsepower of 450. The fully operational prototype weighed only 1,500lbs making it only 100lbs or so heavier than a Formula 1; power to weight ratio was .66; three times the Veyron’s.

It’s a very comparable car to the Koenigsegg Agera R, just not the fastest car in the world.

Despite all the lustrously wonderful potential seeping out of every curve of the composite-carbon body, the car disappeared off the radar without explanation. The fate of the car was later revealed to have burned to the ground and totaled. The project was never resurrected.

13 BMW GINA

bmwblog.com

Prototypes are often the spearhead of a pending trend, and often are ahead of their time. Taking cues from aviation’s humble beginnings of fabric-wrapped framework, the GINA is a shape-shifting sports car that was designed to challenge the conventional theory of automotive design. The synthetic polyurethane spandex is water resistant, durable and flexible. It encompasses the entirety of the exterior and shifts over an articulated framework that allows access to the engine, cockpit seats and even other aspects of the car; it’s designed to shift shapes based on exterior conditions or at the command of the driver. The roadster was equipped with a 4.9L V-8 and a six speed auto transmission built on a Z8 chassis.

12 Peugeot Onyx

effeNovanta

The Onyx was a different car that we’ve ever seen. The minimalistic styling is aggressive yet passive; no crazy ducts and fancy spoilers, but copper body panels give it a highly specialized look.

The powerplant is a 3.7L diesel sourced from the 908 Le Mans car offering the Onyx 600hp at its disposal.

At 2,400lbs, the power to weight ratio beats out the Ferrari F12 easily thanks to the 12-piece carbon fiber chassis. The unusual build materials don’t stop with the copper body; the dashboard is comprised of compressed newspaper while recycled felt makes up the interior panels, seats, and headliner and door panels.

11 Ferrari F80

via youtube

The race is on and the battle is hot; Ferrari is aiming to challenge the world’s fastest car with a sledgehammer we can only hope is as cool as it looks. Forget the huge, 12-cylinder monsters, a twin-turbo V-8 with 1,200hp can out-accelerate a 918 Spyder with a 2.2 second 0-60mph time and is shooting to hit the 300mph barrier. The body styling couldn’t be more aggressive with prominent, sweeping fenders that protrude from the corners confidently while still maintaining a liquid-smooth design that flows from front to back with master-crafted seductiveness. A lot remains to be revealed about the F80, but if it’s anything like the conceptual design the world is in for a shakedown.

10 Aira FXE

meziplyn.cz

Debuted at the LA Auto Show in 2017, the Aria FXE is infusing aerospace and a long repertoire of experience in high-performance automotive design into their initial in-house complete build.

The Irvine, California-based supercar is equipped with a 6.2L supercharged V-8 from the LT4 platform that’s output is supplemented by two electric motors. 

The lightning-fast concept can reach 60mph from a standstill in 3.2 seconds and tops out at 220mph thanks to the 1,150hp effort and 1,316ft/lbs of torque. With design features inspired by the F-22 Raptor, the car is wrapped in angular bodylines that seem to flow with a sense of purpose.

9 Devel Sixteen

autozeitung.de

While many of the coolest concepts never make it past the design phase, fewer still are actually tangible examples of a running prototype. The Devel 16 is no such goose, and you’re likely about to enlighten yourself about one of the coolest concepts we’ve ever seen. The V-16 powered rocket features options that, in its weakest form, produce as many horses as 3 ½ stock cars. That’s right folks, a modest, 2,000hp V-8 option will be available as a base option; 3,000hp can be had in the de-tuned V-16 and a non-streetable 5,000hp rocket will be the flagship (intended only for drag racing, apparently). No production tire is able to handle the projected 320mph top speed of this car as of yet.

8 Infinity Vision GT

TOPSPEED

As luck would have it, you can thank the gamer community for driving a powerhouse of an industry to actually inspire the creation of a concept car, rather than the other way around. The Gran Turismo franchise has been around forever and transcends multiple platforms over the years.

It just so happens that this Vision GT is an Infiniti project that was undertaken after the game designers left an invitation with Infiniti (as they do for many manufactures) to create a concept car for use in the game.

Infiniti’s designers chose to represent their brand in an artistically free way that has yet to seep into their production line design; it’s so much easier to build a 3D model when it’s not projected for actual production.

7 Mercedes Vision GT

avtorinok.ru

If Infiniti’s concept looks cool on paper, wait till you meet the Vision GT concept from Mercedes. The same principle applied, the videogame-inspired concept is an audacious rendition of a no-holds-barred design approach to an all-out racecar that doesn’t need to do anything else but look cool in the game; lines of code take care of performance attributes and are handled by programmers. All Mercedes had to do was design a cool concept. What they did in actuality was take it a step further; Mercedes actually built the Vision GT concept and it looks astounding. The overall theme is confident curves and the overall smooth contours leave nothing to be desired in the style realm, proving you don’t need excessive flair and flashiness to have loads of style.

6 Mazda RX Vision

autotrader.ca

Concept cars need to be relevant and groundbreaking at the same time to be captivating; nobody wants to see a yesteryear design regurgitated into a second life through the guise of a concept.

To anticipate the reception of any concept, designers need to be trendy while maintaining a healthy amount of unorthodox vision enough to be a trend-setter.

The supercar concept trend tightly embraces hyper-aerodynamic designs, streamlined passenger compartment and bold, eccentric features. The Mazda RX-Vision solicits the essence of its concept based in sleek, steady lines leading to a low but ferociously mean profile of a cabin that’s ready to cut through a wall of air in superlative supercar style.

5 Briggs BAC Mono

wikipedia.org

Imagine the wind in your hair as you blaze through town in a razor-sharp one-of-a-kind design that epitomizes boys and their toys. The Mono is a street-legal, single-seater designed for one thing only – hint: it’s not groceries. Unless you need nothing more than say a box of cereal or a roll of paper towels you had better break out the family wagon. This 1,278lb street rocket is equipped with fully adjustable suspension and a tubular-composite chassis for the ultimate driving experience. 0-60mph in less than three seconds and 300hp in a car that has more grip than your body cares to endure make this the top toy for your Christmas list.

4 Nissan Vision GT

guideautoweb.com

Matching stride with Mercedes, Nissan has taken the opportunity to develop the Vision GT, their own Grand Turismo version of the ultimate supercar. I must release this with the caveat that I stand undecided on what I think about it, on hone had, it’s super rad with aggression and confidence bursting from everybody contour; on the other hand I find it to possess an ambiguous quality that makes me want to hate it. Part of me finds it extremely ugly, and I don’t know why. Vague expanses of un-carved panel space make for a partially bland shape when viewed at certain angles with a clumsy-looking style that feels like parts of the design phase got lazy halfway through. It would make a good Hot Wheels model though.

3 Lamborghini Insecta

thewatchersnetwork.com

With a prestigious nameplate like Lamborghini, you’d come to expect nothing but the best; so when you hear of a concept Lamborghini, you almost don’t know what to expect. I mean, the car’s entire design from chassis engineering to the insidious body contours are pushing conventional limits as it is.

Romanian designer Iulian Bumbu decided it could use a minor facelift and as a Transportation Master Course graduate with Alpha Romeo, he’d have as good an idea as any how to tweak it just right.

Tweak it just right indeed, his design concept looks very much like production Lamborghinis with a few minor adjustments to the approach of hypercar design. Bumbu reveals that “the idea was to create…a style that introduces softer and more organic lines…into the geometrical style of the Lamborghini.”

2 Jaguar CX-75

pocket-lint.com,

Kick it into high gear with this concept that blows past the bar with extensively aggressive styling from front to rear; this car has it all. Not one detail was overlooked by designers as they seemed to have aimed to meticulously mold and carve every inch of the exterior with the steady hand of a master craftsman. The dangerous-looking concept perhaps looks meaner from the rear, which isn’t a problem since you’ll most likely only see the rear of the 186mph machine. Left uncompromised is a surprisingly spacious interior for a supercar that feels right at home between 7,000 and 10,000rpms.

1 Hyundai 2025 Vision GT

motorauthority.com

As laughable as the Hyundai brand is, they know how to build ‘em when they want to (let’s face it, high-performance model variants aside, there’s little respectability in a Hyundai). This is all slowly changing in substantial ways thanks to the Grand Turismo 6 Vision project.

With the invite extended to the Korean automaker to provide a Vision concept for the video GT6 video game, Hyundai went balls out, and the 2025 Vision GT is truly something to behold.

Double stacks of hydrogen fuel cells will contribute 670hp while supplemental assistance will be provided by a 201hp supercapacitor that’s charged during regenerative braking. Each wheel hub is equipped with its own electric motor to drag the 2,142lbs of composite concept willfully around the tightest corners with drive-it-like-you-stole-it exhilaration.

Sources: goodwood.com, carthrottle.com, drivemag.com, motorsport.com, topgear.com, lamborghini.com, autoevolution.com, thedrive.com.