Incredible Concept Cars That Should Have Been Made

The idea of concept cars has been around almost as long as the automobile itself. Manufacturers collectively spend tens of millions of dollars every year building them, although most will never make it to production. Instead, they're primarily "development accelerators" according to DS design director Theirry Metroz, providing a test bed for manufacturers to show off their latest designs and innovations, and expedite development of the most popular features. There are also some concepts built primarily as design studies, one-offs that exist simply to impress the public at car shows, and draw attention to the brand in general.

Every so often, an automaker will show off a car that's a cut above the rest, one that sticks in the memories of enthusiasts for years after it was first unveiled. These incredible concepts capture the imaginations of the press and public alike, drawing lots of positive coverage and generating the inevitable rumors that the car might go into production. However, in the case of the 12 cars listed here, they never did get made into production cars, leaving fans to wonder what could have been.

A four-door supercar might not seem too out of the ordinary today, but back when the Lamborghini Estoque debuted in 2008, the idea seemed much more radical. The car was designed to compete against the Ferrari FF and Porsche Panamera Turbo S, and it featured the 5.2L V10 engine from the Gallardo. Lamborghini toured the car around several major auto shows and the response from customers was generally very positive. Reports soon started to surface that the car would hit showrooms by 2011. However, 2011 came and went, and there was no sign of the production car. Then 2012, and 2013, and still nothing. A few years later, Lamborghini would confirm that the project had been officially axed.

It later emerged that there were two main reasons why the Estoque project never made it to showrooms. Firstly, the car was directly competing against another VW Group model, the Porsche Panamera, and Carscoops reports that VW's board was worried that the Estoque might cannibalize sales of the four-door Porsche. Secondly, another Lamborghini project was also in development, that of a super-SUV. Funding for the Estoque was cut in part to provide funds for this SUV, and in 2018, this new car debuted as the production Urus. It seems the company made the right decision in focusing on the Urus, as it has become the company's best-selling car by a considerable margin.

Hyundai's luxury arm Genesis is a relative newcomer to the industry, having only been founded in 2015. However, it has quickly established itself as a serious player, reporting a 203% increase in US sales in 2021 compared to the previous year. Part of this has been down to the brand's combination of value-oriented pricing and attractive design, and one of the best examples of that design is the 2021 X Concept. A futuristic grand tourer with an electric powertrain, the X Concept is arguably one of the best-looking concepts in recent years, and wouldn't look out of place alongside contemporary cars from Porsche or Bentley.

A lot of buzz was generated when the concept was unveiled, but so far there has been no word from Genesis on whether anything like it will make production. A second variant of the concept called the X Speedium was unveiled in April 2022, but its revised exterior design didn't generate as much of a positive response as the original incarnation of the car did. The only thing that Genesis has confirmed is that some design elements of the X will be incorporated into upcoming production vehicles, which doesn't sound too promising for the prospects of the X making it to production overall.

For a company with its roots so firmly planted in motorsport, Alfa Romeo has been surprisingly reluctant to ever make road-going supercars. The 8C Competizione was the first proper Alfa supercar of the modern era, but ten years before that car debuted, the Italian brand had teamed up with Italdesign, with a very different vision for what an Alfa Romeo supercar could look like. The Scighera was a mid-engined fully-functional prototype with a V6 engine that made around 400 horsepower. It featured an all-aluminum body and looked futuristic, yet it was based on the platform of the aging 164 executive sedan.

The front of the car featured a unique "clown eye" design, and the rear featured tail lights connected in a boomerang shape, which Jalopnik notes is reminiscent of the pre-facelift Maserati 3200 GT. The windows and roof of the car were also removable, allowing it to be easily converted to a roadster. It seemed like Alfa was considering a production run of the Scighera, especially since it debuted at the 1997 Geneva Motor Show in both road-going and race-ready GT form. However, the project seemed to simply fizzle out, with the sole working prototype being retained by Italdesign and now permanently displayed at their headquarters, according to Adrian Flux.

One of the highlights of the yearly Moab Easter Safari is always the unveiling of the new concepts that Jeep invariably brings to the event, and in 2019, it showed off one of its best yet. The M-715 Five Quarter pays homage to the 1968 military truck of the same name, recreating its design but adding a thoroughly modern twist. The truck is powered by a 6.2L supercharged Hellcrate Hemi V8, and Dynatrac ProRock axles are fitted with 20-inch Beadlock wheels and 40-inch tires.

The original sheet metal front end has been replaced entirely with carbon fiber, and a custom aluminum bed has been accented with wooden slats, according to Car and Driver. Full-length rock rails have been fitted and the frame has been reinforced for extra strength. It's essentially a factory-built rock crawler, but with the styling of a '60s military truck. With most of the upgraded components already being in mass production at Jeep or its partner suppliers, Jeep could have fairly easily created a low-volume production run for the M-715 Five Quarter but chose not to. The concept had generated plenty of publicity already, and Jeep presumably saw little benefit in making a version for customers.

Dutch carmaker Spyker has seen its fair share of failed car launches, but one of its most high-profile is that of the D12 Peking-to-Paris. In 2006, Spyker unveiled the 500 horsepower, V12-engined luxury SUV. In today's market, the car might have fitted in very well, competing against the likes of the Bentley Bentayga and Lamborghini Urus. But, back then, the idea was still very unique. It generated plenty of interest upon its debut, and reportedly chalked up over 100 provisional orders, but Spyker's persistent financial problems meant that not a single one ever got delivered. Shortly after announcing it would commence production of the Peking-to-Paris, Spyker bought Saab, and the resulting financial losses caused the company to go bankrupt.

Spyker was bought out of bankruptcy but chose to focus solely on sports cars, abandoning its plans for its super-SUV. In retrospect, it seems like the wrong decision for the company to have made, as the super-SUV segment is now booming and Spyker's signature C8 sports car never managed to make much of an impact on the market. As of January 2021, the company was declared bankrupt again, and it seems that so far, no investor has been willing to step in and try to revive the company.

Arguably one of the most famous concept cars of the 2010s thanks to its inclusion in the James Bond movie Spectre, the Jaguar C-X75 featured both revolutionary technology and a head-turning design. It was originally unveiled in 2010 and built-in partnership with Williams Advanced Engineering of Formula 1 fame. It featured a hybrid powertrain that was originally set to be supplemented by jet turbines but later converted to a more conventional gasoline and electric setup. The car could reportedly hit 0-62 mph in under three seconds and had a top speed north of 200 mph.

Jaguar had originally planned to make a production run of the C-X75, but the run was eventually canceled thanks to the effects of the global recession. However, Jaguar did complete several working prototypes, and one of these featured in 2015's Spectre, being driven by the character Mr. Hinx. While the car itself never saw its planned production run, the hybrid technology developed for the C-X75 did go on to influence later production Jaguar hybrid models. Jaguar's latest mass-produced supercar, the F-Type, would go on sale a few years later, but in the company's own words, the C-X75 still remains the most advanced Jaguar ever created.