Concept cars come in all shapes and forms: from the unusual and experimental to the downright bizarre. They are where designers are given free rein to their imagination, although the result sometimes looks less like “the car of the future” and more like it prompts the question: “What on earth were they thinking?”
We’ve selected for you the most memorable of the most unsuccessful concepts.
Let’s start with the 1995 Chrysler Atlantic. The car was supposed to look luxurious and elegant, but ended up resembling a prop from a failed 1990s science-fiction movie rather than a vehicle for a prestigious auto show.
Even the name Atlantic sounds promising: big, solid, with a claim to grandeur. Unfortunately, the car itself does not live up to those expectations.
In a way, it resembles a modern interpretation of the Bugatti Atlantic, yet the proportions are far less harmonious.
It’s hard to say whether the teardrop-shaped elements pointing in different directions or the oddly styled rear end are to blame, but overall the car looks unsuccessful.
Next up is the 1991 Isuzu Como F1 Super Truck. Just the name sounds unusual, and the vehicle itself turned out to be even more eccentric.
Essentially, it is exactly what it appears to be: a two-door pickup with a cargo bed and a V12 engine.
And we’re not talking about any ordinary V12, but an engine developed specifically for Formula 1 race cars.
Another Isuzu concept is the Zen. The irony is that the word “zen” is associated with calm and harmony, while the car itself looks like the complete opposite of those concepts.
It looks like it stepped off the screen of the movie RoboCop and went off to hunt lawbreakers. In a sense, this concept can be considered a predecessor to the Pontiac Aztek, although its appearance is not quite as controversial.
In any case, it’s hard to argue that this model deservedly took third place on the list.
Second place went to the BMW Fun Car, created in 1994 by designer Thilo Klumpp.
In reality, it is only nominally a BMW concept. The company did not develop it for possible series production. The car was created as part of a student competition organized by BMW.
The task was to combine the advantages of a motorcycle with the safety of a car. If fans of the brand are unhappy with modern BMW’s huge kidney grilles, one can only imagine what kind of reaction this project would have provoked.
The winner — or rather, the biggest loser — of this ranking is the 2016 Rolls-Royce 103EX concept.
It was conceived as a vision of what Rolls-Royce cars would look like in a hundred years, which is why it received one of the most unusual designs in the marque’s history.
The doors open against the direction of travel, the entire roof rises upward in a “gullwing” fashion, and there is no conventional steering wheel at all.
