Ever daydream about different realities? Like a world wherein we don’t sit in automobiles however stand in them, or a timeline wherein the Miata was front-wheel drive, or what would have occurred if Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s automobile hadn’t made that fallacious flip in Sarajevo?
Properly, I actually do, however with promising idea automobiles that by no means made it to manufacturing.
Whereas some ideas are tangible workouts meant to both showcase a design crew’s abilities or point out the course of a model’s styling language, there are a number of others that present promise.
Listed below are 5 ideas from the early 2000s that probably might have modified our world in the event that they had been put into manufacturing.
2005 Chrysler Firepower
{Photograph} courtesy Chrysler
Take a Viper, lop off two cylinders and make the within just a little plusher, and also you just about have the Chrysler Firepower.
Positive, no V10 noises or 600 horsepower on faucet below your proper foot, however the idea’s deliberate 6.1-liter V8 would probably have been lots fast–at the very least in a grand touring sense.
I feel there was–and nonetheless is–critical worth in providing a V8 within the Viper platform. Whereas the Chrysler badge would have achieved little to deliver down the worth, I’m assured that sufficient curiosity within the V8-powered Firepower might have had the V8 trickle into the Viper as nicely.
After all, the powers that be didn’t see a viable path ahead to manufacturing, so the Firepower remained an idea–even when it did make the duvet of Automotive and Driver.
2012 Chevrolet Code 130R
{Photograph} courtesy Chevrolet
No, the Code 130R isn’t an experimental new taste of Mountain Dew. Somewhat, it was an idea unveiled on the 2012 North American Worldwide Auto Present that channeled inspiration, in keeping with Chevy, from the early Nova.
In contrast to the Nova, nonetheless, the 130R featured a 1.4-liter turbocharged inline-four that was supposedly able to 150 horsepower.
And when you peeked below the bodywork, you’d see the exact same Alpha platform that underpinned the modern Cadillac ATS and CTS in addition to the Chevy Camaro.
So, it could not have blown the doorways off the likes of the Miata or Toyoburu, but it surely probably would have attracted comparable area of interest patrons.
Whereas the 130R by no means went into manufacturing, I suppose you would say that its spirit lived on within the turbo-four powered Camaro.
2013 Nissan IDx
Nissan IDx Freeflow (prime) and IDx Nismo (backside). {Photograph} courtesy Nissan
I’d commerce the brand new Nissan Z–the Nismo one, too–if it meant we might get the IDx.
Following up on a motorsports legend isn’t any straightforward activity, but Nissan seemingly managed to do exactly that when it unveiled the IDx on the 2013 Tokyo Motor Present.
The recipe was proper there: engine up entrance, energy supply out again and measuring in at 162 inches lengthy and round 70 inches broad–practically the identical dimension because the 163-inch lengthy, 61-inch broad 510.
Whereas the IDx “Freeflow” (the not-so-sporty one) was designed with a sub-2.0-liter engine backed by a CVT, the IDx Nismo was the one on just about everybody’s radar.
Energy got here from the identical 1.6-liter turbocharged inline-four from the Juke Nismo, with both a real six-speed handbook or a CVT.
Whereas I perceive {that a} manufacturing mannequin would have a look at least partially completely different from the idea, it’s nonetheless a disgrace it by no means materialized.
2007 Dodge Demon
{Photograph} courtesy Dodge
Dodge actually appears to take pleasure in reusing names and attaching them to varied sorts of fashions. Ask somebody to point out you an image of a Dodge Demon, and you would be greeted by certainly one of three automobiles:
- The Dodge Dart Demon from the early ’70s.
- The ludicrously highly effective Dodge Challenger SRT Demon.
- The drop-top idea automobile first displayed on the 2007 Geneva Auto Present.
On this case, we’re speaking about that third Demon, which might have competed with the likes of the Miata in addition to the Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky.
Estimated to weigh round 2600 kilos–similar to the soft-top NC Miata’s 2400-pound curb weight–the Demon was deliberate to make use of a 2.4-liter inline-four backed by a six-speed handbook, sending all 172 horses to the rear wheels (as nature meant).
2006/2007 Spyker D8/D12 Peking-to-Paris
{Photograph} courtesy Spyker
Bear in mind Spyker? Whereas the corporate is at the moment caught in some form of monetary limbo (I suppose that’s what occurs whenever you go bankrupt twice), that wasn’t the case when the Peking-to-Paris made its debut on the 2006 Geneva Motor Present.
(When first unveiled in 2006, the idea was designed to utilize a VW W12 engine, therefore the D12 identify. Later, nonetheless, as the cash dried up, the plan was switched to make use of a V8, so the identify was modified to D8.)
Whereas its deliberate efficiency actually sounds spectacular–in both 500-horsepower W12 or 500-horsepower V8 configuration–what actually made the D8/D12 so promising is that it was very a lot forward of its time. Don’t imagine me? Google the Mercedes-Benz GLE Coupe or the BMW X6 and attempt to inform me which you could’t see the resemblance.
In contrast to among the others on this checklist, nonetheless, the D8/D12 was very a lot heading to manufacturing, although Spyker’s monetary woes prevented that from ever actually taking place.
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