Some sports car concepts are completely out of this world, with spaceship-like exterior styling and an interior filled with exotic materials. Usually, automakers scale down those extravagant concepts and make them more production-friendly, resulting in a car sometimes not looking anything like the concept.
With some of these sports cars, the eventual production version resembles the concept in such a way that it looks way ahead of its time. In some cases, such as the BMW i8, the drivetrain matches the futuristic styling – featuring a revolutionary new type of propellant or engine configuration. In many other cases, like with the DeLorean DMC-12, the body and interior may look awesome, but the performance is much less impressive – usually resulting in a disappointment for gearheads.
So, whilst some production sports cars incorporate subtle cues from the concept they are based on, others, like the Aston Martin Valhalla, embrace the concept styling and are put into mass production – resulting in a road-legal car that looks as if it should be parked on a podium at a car show and have people gawp at it.
10 Plymouth Prowler
The Plymouth Prowler was an awful car. This is not an opinion – even the research states this as a fact. When looking at the Prowler, it oozes intrigue as it is designed like nothing else on the road. The open front wheels and the lack of a roof bring an impression of speed and power.
In actual fact, the Prowler has a less than impressive 3.5-liter Chrysler V6 mated to a Dodge 4-speed automatic. The car is a cacophony of parts from Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep to create a parts-bin-Frankenstein-monster of a car if Frankenstein used bits he found lying around in a disused warehouse. At least the Prowler looks cool.
9 DeLorean DMC-12
The DeLorean DMC-12 has been forever immortalized by the Back to the Future film series, making it one of the most famous movie cars in history – just behind James Bond’s Aston Martin DB5 and Herbie, the sentient VW Beetle. Whilst the DeLorean looks like a concept car for the road, the drivetrain is the least impressive part of the car.
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It features a 2.85-liter V6, producing so little power that the production crew of the Back to the Future movies struggled to get the car to the famous 88 mph mark. Many collectors who own DeLoreans, have swapped the pitiful engine out for a Chevrolet LS, and some have even turned theirs into electric cars – fitting, as it goes with the futuristic styling.
8 McLaren-Mercedes SLR Stirling Moss
The McLaren-Mercedes SLR was a car built to be Mercedes’ best and most expensive supercar – a feat which it achieved. It featured a 5.4-liter supercharged V8 and some awesome-opening doors. They then decided to celebrate the legendary British racing driver, Sir Stirling Moss, and his 300SLR race car, by building a special edition version.
The result was a car that looks like an artist’s impression of a vehicle we would all drive in the year 2058. It had a redesigned body made of carbon fiber, no roof, and a cover for the passenger seat to improve aerodynamics when racing on a track – just like the original race car. It is truly a concept car for the road.
7 Lamborghini Countach
Lamborghini is known for its outlandish styling which resembles a fighter jet more than it does a car. This ideology was first introduced and simultaneously cemented with the Countach. The first Countachs made a point, but the updated models reinforced the idea – with more angular wheel-arches, larger air intakes, and the iconic triangular spoiler on the back.
The Countach was the original poster car and featured a massive V12 with a manual transmission to go with the fantasy. It has become one of the most iconic supercars in automotive history and definitely looks like the original concept car put into production.
6 Fisker Karma
The Fisker Karma cannot really be considered a sports car, however, it does come with sports car performance. It was relatively unsuccessful, featured ridiculous styling, was incredibly expensive for what it was, and had 960 lb-ft of torque. Yes, it only made around 400 hp from its twin electric motors, but the biggest selling point was that was a plug-in hybrid, rather than a fully electric car like the Tesla Model S it was going up against.
Unlike the Tesla, however, the Karma failed due to several reasons, including battery supply issues and spontaneous fires, resulting in the company going bankrupt. The Karma only lasted for the 2012 model year; however, they are on sale again as the Karma Revero – which doesn’t quite look as striking as the original.
5 Nissan GT-R50 By Italdesign
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The Nissan GT-R R35 is a wholly awesome car. It has been around now since 2008, making it quite an old car – however in 2020, the Italian coach-builder Italdesign decided to build a new body around the GT-R R35 chassis. The result was the GT-R50 – a 710-hp, 575 lb-ft of torque Japanese supercar with an Italian body. It also cost well over a million Dollars.
While custom GT-Rs do exist, none of them look quite as good as the GT-R50 – which resembles the original concept rendering of the GT-R50. A limited number is being produced, which still look brilliant.
4 Aston Martin Valhalla
The upcoming Aston Martin Valhalla is a surprise to the automotive world. Aston Martin had been teasing and showcasing parts of their high-end Valkyrie hypercar. Then they suddenly revealed a smaller version of it, called the Valhalla. The concept had a twin-turbo V6 hybrid drivetrain, but when the production version was revealed, it featured the twin-turbo V8 from the Vantage – which is a Mercedes-AMG engine.
The production Valhalla’s design is incredibly close to the concept, but whilst the concept looked like a scaled-down Valkyrie, the production version looks more like a proper supercar in its styling. It is also one of the prettiest of the upcoming supercars.
3 Lexus LC
The Lexus LC is a beauty with flowing lines, sculpted arches, and some of the best-looking headlight and taillight designs in the motor industry. It also makes one of the best sounds of any car currently on sale, thanks to the LC500’s Yamaha-tuned 5.0-liter naturally aspirated V8, singing all the way to the redline.
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The interior may be a bit outdated compared to its competitors, but it remains pretty to look at – even better than the new Mercedes SL and certainly better than a Porsche 911 Cabriolet. The recently-launched LC Convertible is even more gorgeous, truly resulting in a production car that looks better than the concept it is based on – something which doesn’t happen often.
2 Honda NSX
The Honda NSX Eco Concept looked like a more modern interpretation of Cadillac’s Cien Concept from 2002. Unlike the Cien, the NSX Concept made it to production – with styling which almost exactly matched that of the original design.
The production version even featured the concept’s proposed twin-turbo V6 hybrid drivetrain, adding to the ‘concept car for the road’ idea. Now, the new Honda NSX Type-S has been launched – a car that features more aggressive styling, but that still follows the concept’s original design language.
1 BMW i8
Finally, we get to the BMW i8 – probably the production car that looks the most like a concept while also being 100% road legal. It is based on the BMW Vision Concept, and whilst it follows many design cues from that car, it went a different way in some aspects. Instead, it looks like a car that should only go on sale twenty years from now, thanks to the futuristic styling.
Even though BMW has already discontinued it, the i8 still looks fresh and futuristic when seen driving in the wild. It will forever be a car that falls into the ‘way ahead of its time’ category, along with the DeLorean DMC-12 and Fisker Karma.