Hot concepts should be produced

David Booth, National Post Published: Friday, January 04, 2008
Story Tools

I n a week or so, you are going to be inundated with all manner of concept cars from Detroit's North American International Auto Show. You'll ignore some, wonder about others and drool over a select few almost as much as you do over your favourite, semi-clad member of the opposite sex (or, if you're over 50 years of age like Yours Truly, MORE than any member of the opposite sex). There will be sleek roadsters, muscular sports cars, way-butch SUVs and at least one sedan that will make you wonder why two doors are still considered sexier than four.

But which of these phantasmagorical concepts will make the leap from the podium to the dealership? Or, more accurately, in your favourite Motor Mouth's cynical outlook, why do some manufacturers tease us with Gisele Bundchen-ish eye candy only to deliver Bea Arthur in flannel pyjamas? It's like the poor lady in the season-ending episode of Deal or No Deal winning a life-changing $272,000 only to have that little holiday-killing scrooge Howie Mandel put a damper on the celebration by pointing out that, had she been judicious with her next pick, she would have won $476,000. We really don't want to be reminded of what we could have had.

Some companies understand this. For instance, Dodge's Challenger will go on sale later this year virtually indistinguishable from the concept unveiled in Detroit two years ago. Demand is rumoured to be so great that U.S. dealers are commanding a healthy premium over the manufacturer's suggested list price. Chevy's Camaro is likewise faithful to the original and will assuredly prove as

popular. No less identical to their prototypes but far less radical in concept, Honda's Ridgeline and Acura's RDX could have driven right off Detroit's podium into a showroom near you.

But then there's the other side of the coin where timidity rules the roost. It promises us avant-garde designs and then delivers Ford Five Hundreds.

It hints at wonders to come like the achingly gorgeous Sunfire Speedster Pontiac showed off in the early '90s that insiders promised was a harbinger of the next Cavalier facelift. Believe it or not, it would have made the similarly styled Porsche Boxster seem like the dowdy roadster next door. Instead, only

the angle of the windshield survived the transition to production. Other times, manufacturers just tease us with stuff they never intend to produce. One gets the impression that General Motors was overwhelmed by the public's response to the outrageous 1,000-horsepower, 13-litre Cadillac Sixteen back in 2003.

GM's Bob Lutz et al had to perform some serious back-pedalling, initially insisting that some reduced form of the Sixteen would be produced as a V8 or even a V12 and then finally cancelling the project altogether. The irony is that if you google Natalia SLS 2, you'll be directed to a Palm Springs-based company that claims to be selling a giant of a sedan with specs and a silhouette remarkably reminiscent of the gargantuan Caddy. The price tag? A cool two million. GM's version would have been an eighth of that.