The Drive

Asking pro car designers: What's the point of concept cars anymore?

Many people are saying: the vibes are just off with today’s concept cars. Why? We sat down with current and former design heads from Toyota, Honda, Stellantis, GM, and Hyundai to find out. We've noticed a couple things covering the auto industry over the years. One, car companies are building fewer full-size concept cars to show publicly than ever. And two, concept cars don't excite people like they used to. In fact, apart from the occasional home run, they're usually met with indifference to scorn to outright anger. That’s not good. It’s a significant shift from 20+ years ago, when concepts were being made to explore a much wider range of ideas about the future of cars. They were wacky, silly, clever, weird, exciting, inspiring, sometimes iconic in their designs and engineering. And a big reveal was a big event. But now, the future feels smaller and grimmer, auto shows have faded, everything is online, there are easier ways to get attention than building a multimillion-dollar art piece, and the concept car scene today reflects those changes. They're more clinical, more aggro, more about software and "lifestyle mobility experiences" than the act of driving. Some of this can be explained by necessity. Electrification demands certain design choices for aerodynamics. Crash regulations demand certain tricks to hide size and mass and keep cars looking “normal.” Platform sharing demands a narrower scope. And investors demand self-driving tech be showcased. But I think there’s something else going on. So, I gathered up a group of five big-name car designers to see what they think has really changed—or hasn’t—with the role that concept cars play in our hearts and minds today. Alex Shen at CALTY Toyota, who designed the FT-1 concept that became the new Supra. Jon Ikeda, the former head of design for Acura, who designed the front-engine NSX concept that got killed by the 2008 recession. Tom Peters, the former head of performance car design at GM who designed the Indy Corvette, the 2007 Camaro concept, and many others; Ralph Gilles, the global head of design for Stellantis, and Sangyup Lee, the head of design for Hyundai and Genesis. Big thanks to all of them for agreeing to sit down with me. Hope you enjoy. Produced by → https://www.instagram.com/rassoolracing/ Hosted by → https://www.instagram.com/kylecheromcha/ Previous episode → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoyV4WD0YZ0 The Drive is the chronicle of car culture. We write stories you actually want to read. → https://www.thedrive.com/ FOLLOW US! Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/thedrive/ Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/thedrive TikTok → https://www.tiktok.com/@thedrive_official WORK WITH US → [email protected]