Car Guys: Why do so few concept cars make it to the production lines?

Pyro

Banned
Sep 2, 2000
1,483
0
0
I saw an old poster of the Hyundai HCD III (I think it was supposed to be a sporty car/small SUV hybrid with adjustable wheel height) and if they had mass produced that car, it would have been at the top of my buy list.

Here's a nice pic.

It doesn't look like it needs special parts, why why did they abandon it?

Would you have considered buying it?



PS. What really gets me is that they leave good cars like this one behind while they put ugly crap like the Aztec into mass production!
 

NFS4

No Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
72,647
26
91
Chrysler is the only car company that produces a good portion of their show cars:

Viper
Prowler
Neon
PT Cruiser
300 Hemi C

Concept cars are mainly used to showcase ne technologies/materials/engines/etc. and to guage public reaction to their design studio. Concept cars cost millions of dollars, but they are just for show and often give a glimpse of what future brand models will look like. But normally, if the public is WILD ENOUGH about a concept, it will make it into production:

VW New Beetle
Porsche Boxster
Audi TT

And then in some case, upper management is just smoking CRACK. Case in point, the Pontiac Aztek.
 

Pyro

Banned
Sep 2, 2000
1,483
0
0
well, maybe its just me. I always like to get stuff that's different from eveybody else...

I love wild concepts..
 

BigSmooth

Lifer
Aug 18, 2000
10,483
7
81
I think that oftentimes, certain aspects of a concept car will be reflected in the production model. The thing is, publicityis a big part of auto shows and concept cars are often WAY out there with the styling so as to attract press/enthusiast attention. But the car companies have to have more traditional styling in their production models in order to appeal to a wider audience.

I think other times, they just decide through their market research that their concept cars would not sell well or would be too costly to produce.