Ever loved a conceptual design from an automaker only to be let down by the actual model that rolls off the assembly line? Things got a lot tougher for automakers in the last 30 years: safety, insurance, emissions, global platform sharing, etc. all make car designs far more constrained than they used to be.
Here's my biggest letdown, the Pontac Aztek:
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Okay, maybe the Aztek is the lowest of the low hanging fruit. How about the Ford Contour concept vs. the 1996 Taurus?
The Chrysler Crossfire. What an Awesome design, and RWD to boot. But with a V6, who cared?
Chrysler LH vs Lambo Portofino
Got a chance to finally see it in person at the 2018 Eyes on Design show at Edsel Ford's place. Bit rough, but striking!
Oh Cadillac! STUNNING Ciel, Escala and Elmiraj Concepts vs. anything they've put into production the past 10 years, with the Converj Concept perhaps the only notable exception given how beautifully executed the ELR was. Not so much a design letdown here. Cadillac's "N'est-ce pas?" marketing pretension, pricing $20K too high and performing too low (vs Volt) were the reasons for the true disappointment as it sold only from 2014-2016 and in substantially fewer numbers than expected.
I had the pleasure of driving the ELR in an electrified road rally that provided a truly extended opportunity to admire the design, build quality and ride. Truly an exceptional car. Still considering picking one up in the used market. Despite unicorn status and CUE failures it's now one helluva used value!
How about the VW Microbus concept that turned into...a lightly modified Chrysler Town & Country (aka Routan)? 😫
The Ford 427 concept, which could have given the Chrysler 300C serious competition,
instead became the completely forgettable Ford 500:
My pet peeve has long been the Porsche Boxster.
Concept:
Production car: Well, you know, not that. A true bummer because for a while there it really looked like we were going to get a legitimate successor to the 356.
But more than that, my main beef is with the whole idea of pre-production “concepts.” True concepts like the Cadillac Sixteen are amazing but increasingly rare. The so called concepts we get instead today are production models with huge wheels and tiny mirrors that inevitably look just a wee bit better than what’s put on sale a few months later. But what’s the point of getting our hopes up with a “concept” and then disappointing us with the production model?
