12 Cool Concept Cars That Never Reached Production
Discover the mind-bending concept cars that never reached production but still keep gearheads awake at night.
Motor shows are equal parts candy-store and heartbreak. One year you’re face-to-face with a carbon-tub prototype that promises 250 mph; the next year it’s gone, replaced by another crossover. Below are 12 concept or pre-production cars that had real engineering under the paint yet died before the public could sign on a dotted line.
I get goosebumps every time I see the #11 car. Let’s check them out:
1. Jaguar C-X75 – The Cat With Turbines
Unveiled in 2010, Jaguar’s C-X75 paired two mini-gas-turbines with four in-wheel electric motors, good for a theoretical 330 km/h and 50 km of pure-EV range. Later prototypes swapped the sci-fi turbines for a 1.6-litre twin-charged four, still cranking out a combined 850 hp. Bond fans saw it sliding through “Spectre,” yet behind the scenes the post-recession supercar market looked soft and Jaguar Land Rover pulled the plug after five road-going mules. Five.
2. BMW M8 (E31) – Munich’s Secret V12 Missile
Imagine a 1990 8-Series stripped of back seats, widened six centimetres, and stuffed with a 6.1-litre 550 hp V12 breathing through individual throttles. That was the E31 M8, developed in total secrecy—engineers even blacked-out windows on test benches. Only one fully finished car exists, locked in BMW’s “Fahrzeugarchiv.” They finally showed it in 2010, decades too late for us to sign finance papers.
3. Mazda RX-Vision – Rotary’s Last Love Letter
Tokyo 2015: Mazda rolls out a long-bonnet GT so pretty Giugiaro is rumoured to have applauded from the crowd (probably, I don’t know). Under that bonnet sat plans for a “Skyactiv-R” rotary designed to cure torque anemia and meet Euro emissions. Boardrooms changed, budgets shrank, and Wankel hopes flickered out—at least for now. Mazda still displays the concept because hope dies harder than apex seals.
4. Ford GT90 – Blue-Oval Space Shuttle
Detroit, 1995. Ford unveils a polygonal supercar boasting a 720 hp quad-turbo V12 built from two modular V8s. Exhaust temps were so extreme engineers lined the tail with Space-Shuttle ceramic tiles. Claimed top speed? 250 mph. Cost to finish? Also stratospheric. Ford bean-counters shelved the GT90; a one-off prototype remains, occasionally fired up to frighten children (and accountants) at special events.
5. Porsche 989 – The Four-Door 911 That Wasn’t
Long before the Panamera, Porsche flirted with a front-engined, rear-drive sports saloon called the 989. Think elongated 911 cues, a 300 hp flat-six up front, and seating for four long-legged adults. Prototypes were doing durability runs when a global recession slashed sports-car sales and then-CEO Arno Bohn got the boot. Project cancelled; the idea hibernated until 2009 when the Panamera finally picked up the baton.
6. Volkswagen W12 Nardò – Wolfsburg’s Forgotten Record-Holder
Built by Italdesign for VW, the W12 Concept evolved into the 600 hp Nardò that set a still-standing 24-hour world speed record: 7,740 km at an average 322 km/h. Ferdinand Piëch wanted a Volkswagen-badged supercar; Lamborghini and Audi lobbying convinced him to keep halo engines in Sant’Agata and Neckarsulm instead. The record car now sleeps in VW’s ZeitHaus museum.
7. Chrysler ME Four-Twelve – America’s Almost-Bugatti
The name decoded: Mid-Engine, Four turbos, Twelve cylinders. Daimler-Chrysler engineers shoe-horned an AMG 6.0 V12 into a carbon tub, dialled output to 850 hp, and projected 0–100 km/h in 2.9 s. Marketing pushed hard; finance ran harder. Development stopped when someone calculated each unit would cost more than a Veyron yet wear a Chrysler badge. Yikes.
8. Nissan IDx NISMO – Digital Datsun Reboot
Crowd-sourced through PlayStation’s Gran Turismo community, the 2013 IDx offered box-flared nostalgia in a 1,200-kg, rear-drive coupe roughly Miata-sized. Power was pegged at 200 hp from a 1.6-litre turbo and—chef’s kiss—a manual. Show-floor reaction was electric; internal profit projections were not. Nissan pivoted to SUVs, and every forum thread since has included at least one “Just build the IDx already!” post.
9. Lancia Fulvia Concept – The Revival That Nearly Happened
Styled by Centro Stile and shown in 2003, this modern Fulvia used Fiat Barchetta underpinnings shaved to 1,000 kg, wrapped in throwback curves, and trimmed with wood-rim steering and drilled pedals. Production tooling was costed and approved until Sergio Marchionne redirected funds to bread-and-butter city cars. Result: rally fans still mourn; Lancia slipped into badge-engineering limbo.
There might be some good news after all for the Lancia fans, recently a new Lancia Fulvia Coupe modern lookalike was spotted during testing in Italy, so Stellantis might be cooking something here and bring this icon back.
10. Chevrolet Corvette CERV III – Mid-Engine Tease, Take One
Before the C8, GM flirted with mid-engines for decades. Crown jewel of the experiments was the 1990 CERV III: carbon-Kevlar body, 650 hp twin-turbo LT5, active suspension, all-wheel steering, even torque-vectoring before it had a name. Estimated build cost: $300,000—per unit—in 1990 dollars. The program died; enthusiasts waited 30 years for GM to finally commit.
11. BMW GINA Light Visionary Model – The Shape-Shifting Fabric Car
I’m not going to lie, this is my absolute favorite concept car (and not just because I’m a bimmer boy), when I first saw the GINA back in 2008, my jaw DROPPED. Shivers went down my spine when the bonnet opened up, revealing the engine (see the video below).
- Unveiled in 2008, the GINA (Geometry and Functions In ‘N’ Adaptions) ditched metal panels for a four-way stretch fabric pulled over an aluminum space frame.
- Electro-hydraulic struts let the body morph in real time: the hood “unzipped” for engine checks, headlamps peeked out like eyelids, and rear contours changed for aero.
- Never production-bound, but its flexible-architecture lessons fed directly into BMW’s i-series lightweight thinking—and gave designers permission to question sheet-metal dogma.
No other cancelled concept cars really looks like this. BMWs are sometimes scary/mean looking, well this one is definitely at the very least creepy.
12. Renault Espace F1 – The 700-Horsepower School Bus
And lastly, we have the French with the Renault Espace F1 showing the world what can be achieved if you simply drink too much wine for breakfast.
- Built in 1994 to celebrate the Espace’s 10th birthday and Renault’s F1 titles, it packed a detuned Williams-Renault 3.5-litre V10 good for 700 hp.
- Carbon chassis, massive aero, and carbon-ceramic brakes stopped 0–200 km/h sprints in 600 ft—while seating four in bucket seats behind the driver.
- Top speed? 312 km/h. The project proved utterly bonkers even for ‘90s concept culture, so it lived one perfect summer on magazine covers before retiring to Renault’s museum.
Final Lap
These machines prove that engineering brilliance doesn’t guarantee showroom success. Somewhere in a parallel universe, turbine-powered Jaguars prowl city centres and rotaries still spin at every track-day. Until we find that timeline, we’ll keep trawling museums, concept auctions, and late-night design leaks for glimpses of what might have been.
