Closest concepts to production

[Sage]

Dan's post in the Ford Evos thread got me to thinking... what have been some of the best concept-to-production cars? The more extreme the concept and the more unmolested it was on the way to production the better. Bonus points if nobody expected it to actually go into production even in a severely euthanized form. (E.g., even though the Ford GT concept seems like a good candidate, I'd argue it was built to be highly productionable from the get-go, and it was obvious from the GT90 that they desperately wanted to build one.)

 

[Famine]

As it happens, I'm playing GT Concept at the moment and their ticker expresses amazement that the Toyota MR-S shown in Tokyo in 1999 made it to production almost completely unmolested.

 

[Tornado]

As it happens, I'm playing GT Concept at the moment and their ticker expresses amazement that the Toyota MR-S shown in Tokyo in 1999 made it to production almost completely unmolested.

I remember GT2 said roughly the same thing about the XYR when they made it into the Celica, if I recall correctly.





To this day I am fascinated the Chrysler built the Prowler, and the only change they made to it for production feasibility was redesigning the headlights a bit. Or the Viper, for that matter.

 

[C-ZETA]

The FT86 will probably join this list eventually. Albeit in another million years time. Although the FT86 II will need a change of nose before it goes into production, unless the FT86 II turns into a more sporty version of the FT86 (or maybe the Subaru version?)

 

[Sage]

Oooo, I was already thinking of the Viper, but Plymouth Prowler is a damn good one! Hits all the requirements very nicely.

I'd also throw in a vote for the Chevy SSR.

 

[gogatrs]

The Porsche 918 Spyder.
Looks pretty much identical to the concept.
The figures they were trying to achieve were sky-high and yet they were able to achieve them. 👍

 

[Bottoz]

Solstice Coupe Concept 02 <-> Solstice Coupe 09

 

[Tornado]

And then they killed it after less than two years. Old GM truly was brilliant, eh?

 

[Roo]

The latest Honda Civic.

Pfft. Like they'll dare make it look like that. It's only bought by old people, and they won't like it.[/mid-00smotoringpress]

Wait, what?

 

[Racedude]

The current generation of Camaro. It's practically the same thing as the concept for it.

 

[benzoboy]

On a similar note to the Camaro, the new Challenger also, surely?

 

[Cano]

in the spirit of the OP, Ford Verve:

Ford Fiesta:

------

8C concept:

8C production car:

------

Concept 1:

New Beetle:

A pity the oval little grilles in the concept didn't make it into production.

----

Nissan Qazana:

Nissan Puke... er, Juke:

----

Peugeot RCZ Concept:

Peugeot RCZ:

 

[motortrend]

The G coupe concept and G37 coupe:

 

[gogatrs]

I'm glad they changed the proportions on the 8C.
Nevermind, my iPod distorted the image.

 

[Mac K]

Concept:

Production:

 

[Tornado]

I have to guess that some of you guys are kind of missing the point of the thread.

 

[YSSMAN]

Although it didn't carry over as well from the design standpoint, the engineering end of the Chevrolet Volt concept faired quite well in a very small amount of time. It took less than a year to get most of the production kinks out, and prototypes were rolling not long after that. Along with the Solstice/Sky, I would guess that the Volt has one of the fastest turnaround times of any concept-to-production vehicles.

 

[JER_CREST]

Dodge Viper

1989 Concept

1992 Production Model

 

[JacoJa]

Regarding cars which still looked like concept cars in production form, these cars come to mind:

Toyota Sera
(7TH Generation) Toyota Celica
(1st Generation) Ford Ka
(1st Generation) Audi TT
Current Euro Honda Civic (Pre-facelift)

 

[Cale]

 

[homeforsummer]

This one did pretty well:

Nobody expected the Land Rover LRX concept to go into production virtually unchanged as the Range Rover Evoque. You could even say the seed for the styling had been sown earlier with the Range Stormer. Whilst the Range Rover Sport didn't go into production unchanged, the styling heavily influenced the LRX so we got it eventually...

 

[Pupik]

Funny how the sports cars generally make it out unscathed to the assembly line, but the average production car or van gets whittled away by committee.

 

[Enigma]

This one surprised Clarkson so much that he ended up eating his own hair

 

[Mike0105]

in the spirit of the OP, Ford Verve:

Ford Fiesta:

The EU Fiesta hatch looks more like the Verve than that. Is that a US specific Fiesta? It looks like something went a bit wrong with the conversion from hatch to saloon.

 

[Joey D]

I'm guessing the Focus ST will be pretty much identical to the concept aside from the tinted tail lights, huge brakes and a few other odds and ends.

 

[marluxiaXI11]

Cadillac CTS Coupe