The Top 10 most outrageous concept cars of 2004

The latest edition of The Car Design Yearbook, by Stephen Newbury, comes out this month. It contains an even more sleek, sophisticated, sexy and occasionally downright whacky crop of cars than earlier editions. Here are our top 10 most outrageous concepts from the past year – click a picture to see it enlarged – there are more pictures at the bottom of the page.

Half sports car, half off-roader – this is Volkswagen’s latest coupé concept car. In the USA especially, the market for SUVs is dominated by large off-roaders, and in this category you seldom find one that adds any sports-car characteristics to the package. Also, there are no current production sports cars capable of driving off-road. VW claim to have filled this gap with the Concept T. It is an inevitable compromise. The car’s centre of gravity is too high for excellent sports-car handling, while the interior space is too compromised for a car with the SUV practicality vaunted by the vast majority of SUV choosers.

The premiere of the Seat Cupra GT at the Barcelona show was a very exciting spectacle for an event that doesn’t normally attract new model launches. The Cupra GT was obviously designed specifically for the racetrack; why else would Seat need a 500 bhp supercar? It’s a great way to build excitement into the Seat brand, especially as the VW Group has accumulated so much supercar expertise recently with Bugatti, Lamborghini et al.

The huge wheels feature a single centre nut for faster tyre changes, while at the rear the big wings give a muscular look, and the titanium-coloured bumper is integrated into the rear end above the diffuser. The rear roof spoiler balances the downforce given by the front intake vents to help stabilize the car at speed. The two air intake vents behind the doors cool the engine and feed the intercoolers.

In the USA, 54% of all Volvo buyers are female, so there is real purpose to this novel project – a concept car designed exclusively by women. The YCC, for Your Concept Car, is tilted at the independent, professional woman, somebody Volvo claims is its most demanding and important customer. The gearlever is positioned near the steering wheel and the parking brake is electronic and integrated. This frees up space for storage in the centre console – the most easily accessible space in the car for the driver. Also within easy reach is a compartment for a notebook computer, a coolbox and a wastepaper basket. Instrumentation is simplified, with essentially only a speedometer, a distance indicator and a navigation system visible.

With its fantastic fuel efficiency of 60 km per litre (176 mpg), Daihatsu claims that the slippery-shaped UFE-II is the most efficient four-seater in the world. This has been achieved by using composites and aluminium in its construction. The car has the stupendously low drag coefficient of 0.19 so it can cut through the atmosphere with minimal resistance.

The interior has been well thought through and executed, and features just the essential functions, although there is a lightweight information screen linked to body-mounted cameras. So light a car as this is likely to suffer problems with ride and handling because the gross vehicle weight to include all four possible occupants would be such an increase over kerb weight that the suspension would struggle to cope.

EDAG, a German-based engineering and design consultancy, launched the genX to demonstrate its innovative ideas to prospective automotive partners. It is this ‘shop window’ aspect that makes the annual Geneva Motor Show indispensable for car trendspotters, but don’t expect to be able to buy a genX any time soon. GenX has a world first too: it’s the first two-seater sports car ever to feature a full-size bed for the driver! The interior is enlarged to accommodate it by means of an electronic motor-driven expander, and there are external, module-like boxes fitted in the slim waist area, that can be removed and carried as suitcases. It would seem to be an arrangement more worthy of Virgin Atlantic than the car industry, but it’s novel anyway.

Here is a witty addition to Nissan’s concept car range. The Effis is a fuel-cell car with the fuel-cell stack and battery under the floor to enhance interior roominess and help lower the centre of gravity. The hydrogen tank is located under the rear seat to achieve a 3 metre (10 ft.) overall length. Each motor features two drive-shafts that are controlled independently, so the driving force can be distributed to right and left wheels independently. That way, says Nissan, there’s no need for mechanical steering gear.

When only the driver is on board, a rotary table can expand from the dashboard and be used as a de luxe cupholder or else function as, say, a map-reading surface. The driver can enter the car from either side, something made much easier because the steering wheel incorporates a tilting mechanism so the effective space of the driver’s seat can be increased.

Rinspeed is a Swiss design company that has produced a parade of whacky concepts in the past. This is its tenth such vehicle, and it is not only a high-performance sports car but also an amphibious vehicle with an integrated hydrofoil system that enables it to ‘fly’ at about 60 cm (24 in.) above the water surface – high enough for the wheels to clear the wet stuff – at a speed of 80 km/h (50 mph).

In transforming for the water, the rear panel flips up to reveal a propeller that is lowered to its correct aquatic position directly from the cockpit. The Formula 1-style rear spoiler rotates down at the rear, and on the left and right are two hydrofoils integrated into the outside skin. These rotate down before unfolding into their lifting V shape.

With the S-Ride, Suzuki uses both its car and motorbike expertise to create a new tandem two-seater car clearly targeting the young-driver market. Diverting, certainly, but this is – sadly – a flawed concept. You would never get the true feeling of motorcycle freedom and performance from it and, because of the tandem seating, you lose the sociable element of a car. S-Ride, at 1400 mm (55 in.) across, is slim but it is nowhere near narrow enough to benefit from the ability to weave through traffic like a motorcycle. BMW’s C1 scooter had tandem seating and a roof, and could weave in and out of the traffic, yet it was a flop and has now been dropped. There is no real market for such a compromised car/motorcycle crossbreed: but celebrate the S-Ride simply for being an engaging showpiece nonetheless.

The Motor Triathlon Race Car (MTRC) is a fuel-cell-powered fantasy for many young kids today. It is designed to compete in a triathlon of different environments: an off-road course, a smooth and high-grip racetrack, and a narrow city-street circuit. It is configured like a fighter aircraft cockpit on wheels. The tandem seating arrangement allows for minimal frontal area and the suspension is all inboard and enclosed. It looks to be tremendous fun and the dramatic hinged cockpit roof looks fantastic when open. The driver and passenger wear special helmets that, like head-up displays, relay information on speed, upcoming roads and tyre condition to a screen inside them.

Here is a very exciting concept that really explores the idea of single-person transportation. Looking rather like a fighter-aircraft cockpit on wheels, it’s just the sort of left-field design that has become a hallmark of the Tokyo motor show, which is likely to be the first and the last place you’ll see it. And that’s a shame: To enter the PM, the driver must first touch one of its headlights that stick out on the end of stalks. This then glows green to signal the opening of the glass canopy. As the canopy opens, the driving seat slides down, forwards and out so the driver can install himself or herself. Once behind the PM’s controls, the car is easily manoeuvrable because the wheels turn through 180 degrees – thanks to being mounted on pivots like a caster. As the car gathers speed, it lowers and lengthens itself from 1750 mm (70 in.) to 2650 mm (104 in.) using rear hinges, which is aimed at making it more stable as it hugs the road closer.

These extracts are taken from The Car Design Yearbook 3 by Stephen Newbury, published by Merrell, £25 hardback. For more information or to order a copy visit www.merrellpublishers.com