Piëch Mark Zero, 2019. A electric GT concept from Toni Piëch, great-grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, son of Ferdinand Piëch who was chairman of the executive board of Volkswagen Group 1993-2002 and the chairman of the supervisory board of Volkswagen Group 2002-2015.
Family Well, if there’s already a Porsche brand, why not Piëch?
Aston Martin DB2/4 Spyder ‘Superleggera’, 1956, by Carrozzeria Touring. The first Aston Martin to be built using the Superleggera method of lightweight construction. Touring built 3 prototypes expecting orders for more but none were forthcoming. All 3 cars still exist
Superleggera How sexy is this? Pre-DB4, and you can see the genesis of the production Touring style.
Lancia Gamma Scala, 1980, by Pinifarina. A saloon proposal based on the Pininfarina-designed Gamma Coupé using the longer wheelbase of the Gamma saloon. But it was already too late for the slow-selling Gamma which was replaced by the more conventional Thema in 1984
Tre vi I like it. Imagine this instead of the Gamma Berlina.
Mercedes-Benz C 111/II, 1970. One of a series of experimental C111 prototypes that were used by Mercedes to evaluate different possible future drivetrains. The C 111/II had a 4-rotor Wankel engine. It helped to convince Mercedes not to switch to rotary engines
C111 One of my favourites from long ago. I still have a lovely toy model of one.
Alfa Romeo 1600 Scarabeo, 1966, designed by Sergio Sartorelli at Officine Stampaggi Industrial (OSI). A mid-engined prototype based on the principle that the driver should be seated as far back within the wheelbase as possible. It was a serious proposal from OSI for a limited production model but only 3 prototypes were built and of those 3 only 1 has survived to the present.
Scarabeo I’m sure I had a toy model of this from Playart when I was a kid.
Countach That original Countach concept was so pure. The Gandini wedge. And, for people my age, represented by a Matchbox model (no. 27, wasn’t it?).
Audi Zuma 1998, by Zagato. A concept based on an Audi A3 which celebrated Zagato’s 80th birthday. Audi made the TT instead
One size fits two This reminds me a lot of Zagato’s earlier Hyena concept for Lancia, which later saw limited production.
Ghia AC Cobra, 1965. This was Ghia’s proposal for an updated AC Cobra. AC went with Frua’s version instead
Rebodying the Cobra I hadn’t seen this before, but it could have been a way forward and it might have survived into the 1970s. Instead we got the 427 and 428 and no one (well, OK, 81) bought them …
Chrysler Chronos Concept, 1998
Retromodern Remember when Chrysler was still cool under Eaton and Lutz?
What if? What if Chrysler made a four-door Plymouth Barracuda in the 1970s? It might have looked a little like this.
Fiat Lucciola Concept, 1993, by Italdesign, An compact electrically-driven hybrid made from recyclable materials with an aluminium body based on the Fiat Cinquecento. When Fiat were’t interested in developing the concept, Giugiaro sold the design to Daewoo for the Matiz (as a five door hatchback)
Origins of the M100 Matiz Thanks to that move by Daewoo, it’s still being made today (in Vietnam, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, and China).
SOCEMA Gregoire, 1952. The first car to be powered by a gas turbine engine, created by French automobile engineer Jean-Albert Gregoire. It was powered by a single rotor kerosene-fuelled ‘cematurbo’ turbo engine, developing 100 bhp at 25,000 rpm. Combined with an aerodynamic shape – a Cx of just 0.19 – enabling a claimed 200 km/h top speed. The SOCEMA remained a one-off experimental prototype
Jaguar C-X75 2010. Jaguar’s hypercar was first displayed at the Paris Motor Show, the concept is an electric hybrid which uses twin gas-turbine engines to charge the batteries which power it’s 4 electric engines with a combined 778hp. Plans were announced to produce a limited number of cars, using a more conventional supercharged petrol engine, in association with the Williams F1 team. The plan has subsequently been cancelled. The motor show pictures were taken by me
More recently Jaguar used gas-turbines in their hybrid hypercar C-X75
C-X75 Looks damned good in the original silver.
Prince Skyline Sprint 1900 1963, presented as a prototype at the Tokyo Motor Show, the Skyline Sprint was designed by Scaglione of Italy. The Prince Motor Company was taken over by Nissan in 1966
Skyline Sprint Another fascinating what-if.
BMW 2002 GT4, 1969, by Frua. A fastback version of the 2002 designed by Pietro Frua, two prototypes were built but the car never progressed beyond this stage
Frua fastback The centre one with the Hofmeister-Knick works better for me, but both are very Italianate. Then again, so was the original 5er.
Volvo Tundra Concept
Tundra Shame Volvo never went with this 343-based hatchback concept by Bertone from 1979. I liked it at the time, especially the asymmetric Volvo grille. It doesn’t take a genius to work out that the ideas informed the Citroën BX.
