Detroit Auto Show: Where do Concept Cars go After the Show?
One great thing about auto shows is that they don’t just display the newest cars and trucks available in the market, but they showcase concept cars ? million dollar dream machines created to put a glossy finish on a company’s image.
Concepts are built to help conjure fantasy, to build enthusiasm within the corporate ranks, and to act as guide to the firms’ future. The question is: What happens to these beauties when the party is over?
Concept cars are living expressions of the brand that displays them. They generate energy within the carmakers ? engineers, designers and even accountants get excited when they see the latest concept car take form.
More than one company has used customer reaction to a concept to help re-launch it in market. Take Nissan: Public reaction was so overwhelmingly positive to a raw, fiberglass styling model of the 350Z ? it had no interior ? that Nissan spent tens of millions to resurrect the model? and, arguably, the company as well.
Unfortunately because many of these concepts are built at the last minute, using methods that do not conform to stringent government standards like fuel economy and crash worthiness, concepts remain whimsical, one-off toys not legal to drive on public roads. That doesn’t mean that like Cinderella’s chariot they turn to pumpkins after the gala. Life does exist after the lights and glitz dim at their debutante ball.
A crushing tale
We might as well get the ugliness out of the way first. Because these cars don’t have any reason for existing ? other than to be beautiful, to wow crowds or to showcase a company’s many talents ? carmakers have been known to perform a duty that many car collectors find abhorrent: they crush the concepts. Thank lawyers and our system of jurisprudence since few of these can be driven legally on the open road and they are built at the last minute with little more than duct tape, a lick and a promise. This might be the most devastating news for a car fanatic, but getting it out of the way first is always best.
Taking it on the road
The Detroit Auto Show 2011 is the official start of the auto show season in America. Virtually every major city holds an auto show. The circuit of large US shows include: Detroit, Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles. Secondary shows are largely housed in the next largest markets. Close to 50 annual new-car auto shows are held each year around the country.
Because the time and cost to manufacture each show cars is in the millions of dollar range ? and it can take up to six months to conceive and build one ? automakers want to amortize their use. This is where some of the smaller auto shows come in. Unless automakers are touting a near-term technology (like hybrid electricity or fuel-cell-powered cars), chances are they will take a car they debut at one large show and move it directly to the second-tier event circuit. If they’ve got the latest whiz-bang model, then that will tour major shows for the year? and then be moved to the De Moineses of the world. The average lifespan of these concepts cars could be as long as two or two-and-a-half years depending on their popularity.
Laboratory test bed
If you want to think romantically about it, the lucky concept show cars go on a national auto show tour and get to see all the big cities. Others ? are they chock full of with geegaws and digital doo-dads? ? will return to company headquarters and are dissected and inspected.
It is not a disgraceful end. A concept car will be torn apart so others can live! Most recently this happened to the all-electric sports car, the Audi eTron. And like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, other eTrons have popped up in shows and venues thanks to that first concept willing to share with others?
Exhibitionist
Many automakers understand the value of chronicling their history. They do this in words and pictures, video and archives. Another way is with a corporate museum. Sometimes these are open to the public ? like the Walter P. Chrysler museum, or those in Germany for BMW, Mercedes and Porsche. All of them are world-class venues and all attract hundreds of thousands of visitors a year.
If an automaker is on top of its game, it recognizes the value of squirreling away concept cars to put them on display. The concept is a chapter in the story of their car company, hard in sheet metal, rubber and plastic. Some automakers come late to this realization. Even though Porsche has an extensive museum, the first ever car does not reside in the hands of the company but a private collector.
A cause celeb
As car brands age and grow so too do the total number of models they will build. You can imagine that’s also true with their show cars. Some companies have multiple warehouses filled to their rafters with long-past-prime show cars. Not all are glorious examples, but because they are show cars and concepts, they have history.
They also have collectability. In recent years automakers have culled some of what they believe to be cars that can be dismissed from their caretaking and sent them to auction houses. In some cases, monies raised go to benefit foundations close to the automaker. In others, their proceeds fill the corporate till. However the money is allocated, what is for sure: these concept vehicles get a new lease on life in the hands of passionate collectors who will care for them for years to come.
Depending on the collector, the brand or the car itself, the sales price of these concept cars can be quite dear. Three years ago a 1950s-era Buick show car sold at the Barrett-Jackson auction in Arizona for a then-record price of $3 million. It’s hard to say whether any car from the 2011 Detroit Auto Show will meet that same fate, but it’s not unheard of. After all, concepts are fantasy toys made to make people smile.
Originally published here.
Dutch Mandel