The curse of the concept car

The business of concept cars is faltering. Every year, automakers spend many millions of dollars building full-size, one-off concept cars to market-test new ideas, flex design capabilities, experiment with new technologies, and just get people excited about what's next. They are a showcase of what a company can do when they're freed up from pesky things like crash regulations and mass production budgets. Most never make it to the showroom, at least not without a lot of compromises, but that's not the point. The point is to push, see what happens, and apply those findings to the cars of tomorrow. The signal that a concept car is supposed to create for both sides, for companies and consumers, is getting weaker. When people are geared to greet concepts with suspicion because they represent anxieties about the future instead of hope, the market research aspect breaks down. When car companies can't get valid data from that response, their aim falters. And when companies build fewer ambitious concepts because it feels like a waste of money, the one window for both sides to have a conversation about what the cars of tomorrow should look like or do or represent gets smaller and smaller. Are concept cars going to disappear? Why? What will happen? The Drive's Editor-In-Chief Kyle Cheromcha is joined by John Ikeda from Honda and Acura to break down the business of concept cars. Stories mentioned in today's episode: How Flock Cameras Wrongly Tracked Me for Days Over ‘Stolen’ Plates and Sent Police After Me Do concept cars matter anymore? 5 top Designers explain 00:00 Intro 04:19 - John Ikeda and his background 5:40 - What's the ROI of concept cars? 11:39 - How expensive are concept cars to create? 15:53 - The Internet and digital consumption changed things 17:33 - Design studies vs. public concept cars 28:33 - Powertrains and proportions 37:38 - The Precision Concept 42:48 - Public reactions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices