What is the point of concept cars?

In 1964, General Motors created one of the most outlandish looking cars ever built. The GM-X Stiletto – named more after the knife than the shoe – was perhaps the epitome of an era of radical car design that had begun the previous decade. The Stiletto was low and very long, its fastback roofline uninterrupted for the length of its super sleek body. The front end was reminiscent of the nose of a fighter jet, with engine intakes either side. Inside was much like a fighter jet too - 31 indicator lights, 29 switches, 16 gauges. The Stiletto had well-ahead-of-its-time climate control and ultrasonic obstacle sensors. This car was a vision of tomorrow. 

Only, of course, the GM-X Stiletto was never available to buy. It was a concept car, one of those unicorns of the automotive world, progressive in application and aesthetic, yet rarely actually making it into production. The last 70 years have been littered with these often eye-popping, sometimes cartoonish creations - from 1970’s Ferrari 512S Modulo, the first of a series of wedge-shaped cars from various super-car manufacturers, the likes of the 1979’s Aston Martin Bulldog; to the gull-wing Mercedes-Benz C111 of 1969 or 2005’s Maserati Birdcage, certainly a car with a name that wouldn’t get passed by the marketing department. 

A cutaway drawing of the Ferrari 512s Modulo concept car. 

Every category of car has seen some kind of re-imagining, from Jeep’s Hurricane, the ultimate off-roader, to the Cadillac Sixteen limo and the Spyker D12, launched in 2006 and arguably the first car to propose something akin to a luxury SUV; from the unapologetically futuristic, think 2007’s Mazda Taiki, to the retro, as in 1995’s Deco-inspired Chrysler Atlantic. Some have been so out there as to stray into fantasy. The Batmobile, from the lovingly camp 1966 ‘Batman’ TV series? That was actually a pimped-up 1955 Lincoln Futura. Small wonder such cars inspired many a boyhood dream.<