10 Luxury Concept Cars We’d Love to See On The Road

There’s something truly exciting about the unveiling of a concept car, whether at exclusive brand launches or at opulent supercar showcases across the globe. They point to a set of ideals and innovations created almost entirely for their own sake; more often than not, the manufacturers behind luxury concept cars know fully well that they’ll never see mainstream production… and yet they’re built from scratch simply because limits need to be stretched, rules need to be broken, and the imagination deserves to fly.

Concept cars lay the groundwork on which the future of the industry is built. From envelope-pushing chassis design to awe-inspiring interiors, new notions of engine production and outrageously bold body shapes, they give brands an opportunity to truly flex their creative muscles.

While occasionally these cars do find buyers (and there are some seriously impressive examples kept in the private collections of UHNW individuals across the globe), they’re usually kept for exhibitions, points of inspiration, and a litmus test for new ideas which may or may not see fruition one day in the future.

Every major supercar manufacturer – and several brands behind more regular everyday automobiles – spends a significant amount of time, energy and funding on concept car production. However, some examples of concept car creation deserve to be remembered, their achievements shouted from the rooftops. Let’s take a look at ten luxury concept cars that are just too beautiful, too impressive, and too groundbreaking to miss.

[header image  featuring the Maybach 6 Cabriolet is courtesy of Mercedes-Benz]

 

The Cadillac Sixteen

Image by That Hartford Guy. CC BY-SA 2.0. , courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. No changes were made.

 

Launched to considerable fanfare back in 2003, the Cadillac Sixteen was a deeply elegant yet monstrously powerful concept car, perfect for kicking off this countdown in peerless style. Today, the historic American car brand is best known for its luxury SUV models, but the Sixteen was a gorgeous callback to a significant aspect of Cadillac heritage: the creation of decadent and effortlessly stylish saloon cars.

If there’s a (relatively) contemporary concept car that perfectly marries the past and present, the vintage and the avant-garde and raw power with sleek, opulent and timeless style, the Cadillac Sixteen would be a strong contender for the crown. Futuristic and yet drawing serious inspiration from the Cadillac V-16 – a veritable icon of the 1930s – it’s a concept car which wears its heritage on its sleeve, and does so with impressive grace and a set of lines and curves that still make their presence felt today.

As for what’s under the bonnet, this concept vehicle packed a jaw-dropping punch with its enormous 1,000hp 13.6-litre 16-cylinder engine, offering a roar and acceleration that was surely destined for the great American open road. The engine never made it into any cars that eventually took to the tarmac, but several of the design ideas that went into the Sixteen most certainly did.

 

Jaguar CX75

Image by SbastienRondet, CC BY 2.0 , courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

 

The electric revolution in the supercar world has been an industry-defining movement, and one which has seen no shortage of thrilling concept cars unveiled at brand showcases worldwide. However, Jaguar was amongst the first major supercar brands to dive headfirst into the realm of hybrid hypercar production, delivering the C-X75 in 2010; a beast of a performance vehicle presenting incredible speed and power alongside remarkable fuel economy.

Not only did the C-X75 look the business, it innovated with four electric motors for each wheel, backed by twin diesel-powered turbines boosting the battery. The result? Jaguar were keen to let the world know that this concept hit 778hp – a new high for the burgeoning hybrid scene at the time.

There were plans to create a limited run of road-legal models (although, they were designed with a rather less-ambitious hybrid engine), yet only five cars ever got made to these specifications. As with many concept cars, this wasn’t a fallback for Jaguar: the flight of fancy that formed the core of the C-X75 blazed a trail that would be followed by both the I-Pace and F-Type, proving what was possible with hybrid tech for a more economical industry future.

 

Ferrari Mythos

 

No list of fantastical concept cars would be complete without some mention of the Ferrari Mythos, which frequently gets picked as one of the greatest vehicles of its type, and one which sits on the wishlist of all too many UHNW car collectors.

Unveiled at selected trade shows all the way back in 1989, the Mythos was specifically designed by styling house Pininfarina to go against the grain of the time, and evoke the glamour of Ferrari’s 1960s big-hitters… while also looking solidly to the imagined future of supercar manufacturing.

Nobody can look at The Mythos – with its impossibly low-slung body and sleek lines – without immediately seeing the references to the Testarossa. Packing a 390hp 4.9 litre flat-12, which was tucked neatly behind the driver’s seat, The Mythos was as lightweight and manoeuvrable as a Ferrari can possibly be. Blisteringly fast, somehow both classic and forward-thinking in its appearance and undeniably sexy, the sole prototype was snapped up by a Japanese billionaire collector. Fascinatingly, the Sultan of Brunei (arguably the owner of the world’s most enviable car collection) was so impressed by The Mythos, he commissioned two further cars to add to his own garage.

Mercedes-Benz Biome

The Mercedes-Benz BIOME: for the Los Angeles Design Challenge the designers of the Mercedes-Benz Advanced Design Studio in Sindelfingen developed an ultra-lightweight vehicle in symbiosis with nature.

Image courtesy of Mercedes-Benz

 

Sometimes, concept car ideas and creations are designed for no other reason than to shoot for the moon when it comes to showcasing imagination, innovation, and ideas which seem nothing short of insane. However, as history has shown us, occasionally those ideas which seem utterly ridiculous at first end up being genuinely game-changing further down the line. Enter the Mercedes-Benz Biome, unveiled at the Los Angeles Auto Show 2010, and perhaps one of the most far-out concepts the car world has ever witnessed.

Firstly, the Biome looks incredible. Futuristic through and through, it seems to have dropped right out of a video game set at least a century from now, boasting bold new designs which cover everything from the low-slung body to the interior and even the shape of the wheels.

Secondly, the concept itself: the Biome’s bodywork would be grown from a pair of seeds that would go on to produce ultralight biofibres, which could be harvested and woven together to form the vehicle. The wheels, too, would be grown for another quartet of seeds. The car was designed to be powered by BioNectar4543 – a sustainable fuel source stored in the BioFiber itself, doing away with the need for any kind of fuel tank. If that’s not forward thinking enough, Mercedes-Benz envisioned using trees featuring special receptors that could harvest solar energy for transforming into BioNectar4543, creating an entire ecosystem designed for the cars of the future. Whether we’ll ever get close to this idea becoming a reality remains to be seen, but the depth of thought and vision that went into this design is undeniably impressive nonetheless.

Rolls Royce Vision Next 100

Image courtesy of Rolls Royce

 

Similarly to the Mercedes-Benz Biome, the Rolls Royce Vision Next 100 looks to the far future of automobile design. In doing so, it unveils a concept of luxury that harmonises with the dramatic shifts in fuel consumption and sustainability, all of which the supercar industry so desperately needs to face.

Showcased in 2016 by the BMW group, the Rolls Royce Vision Next 100 demonstrates how the brand values of Rolls Royce – peerless luxury, effortless travel, and the creation of a sanctuary of calm on the road – can exist alongside autonomous zero-emission driving. It’s a truly impressive model which manages to look remarkably futuristic while remaining undeniably a Rolls Royce, and came with an array of customisable features that point to tomorrow’s luxury car industry and the growing demands of its HNW audience.

The Rolls Royce Vision Next 100 demonstrated how the brand will allow its future owners to be the architects of their driving experience, covering customisable aspects of form, space and material. The Spirit of Ecstasy – the brand’s iconic figurehead – was reimagined as an AI concierge named Eleanor, which responds to voice commands and handles pretty much every aspect of the vehicle and its performance. Other fascinating features included a roof canopy that opens and closes in its entirety, and a full cabin-width dazzling OLED display.

 

DS XE-Tense

Image by Roman S., courtesy of Stellantis and DS Automobiles.

 

DS was previously a part of the Citroen brand, and one not immediately associated whatsoever with the world of high-performance vehicles or supercars. However, since breaking away, DS Automobiles has been working tirelessly to establish itself as one of the leading EV and hybrid manufacturers in Europe, with major plans to enter the world of luxury cars in the next few years.

The unveiling of the X E-Tense demonstrates the brand’s ambition in truly impressive and groundbreaking style, and hints at how DS is willing to reimagine car design through and through to make their presence on the scene felt.

The first thing you notice about the X E-Tense? It looks bizarre, as it features an asymmetrical design which appears to be two different vehicles blended together just off-centre. Making viewers question why symmetry has always been central to the appearance and design of cars is a clever trick, as is the fact the driver’s side has a thrilling open-top design and the passenger is coddled in a futuristic cocoon. As concept cars go, this one definitely wins points for innovation and imagination, and we can’t wait to see what this brand has in store for the coming years.

 

Lamborghini Terzo Millennio

Image by ramp Magazin / Matthias Mederer, courtesy of Lamborghini

 

There’s no escaping the incredible ascendency of the EV industry, and it’s been utterly fascinating to see its impact on the hypercar scene. The fact that there is now a broad array of performative electric sports cars is nothing short of a marvel, and the Lamborghini Terzo Millennio was surely one of the driving factors behind the vast leaps the scene has taken in recent years.

While we may be a few years away from getting a bonafide fully electric Lambo, this beautiful concept car demonstrates that plans are in place, the wheels are turning, and it’s only a matter of time before one is unveiled.

Built in collaboration with MIT, the Terzo Millennio made significant waves when it debuted back in 2017. It isn’t hard to see why: it’s a through-and-through futurist vision of a car, complete with eye-catching glowing wheels and a body shape straight out of a sci-fi dreamscape. Powered by an impressive quad-motor system that makes use of high-capacity supercapacitors for storing energy, it has laid the foundation for a wholly new generation of electric vehicles that we’ll surely see on the roads in the years and decades to come.

 

Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6 Cabriolet

Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6 Cabriolet.  Image courtesy of Mercedes-Benz.

 

As we’ve seen on this list already, Mercedes-Benz doesn’t mess around when it comes to jaw-droppingly impressive concept cars. The Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6 Cabriolet is arguably the most beautiful concept the German auto designers have ever launched; it’s spectacularly gorgeous, boasting a hugely elongated hood, a stunningly curvaceous body and an unmissable sharp feature line that flows along the vehicle’s entire length.

The interior, too, is every bit as special – there’s a perfect marriage of plush and luxurious comfort alongside blistering modernity, typified most successfully with the high-tech virtual cockpit. With an electric drivetrain consisting of four electric motors, the Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6 Cabriolet hits highs of 738hp, offering exquisite performance alongside those catwalk-ready looks.

Tesla Cybertruck

Image courtesy of Tesla.

 

Tesla is – at least in 2023 – about as divisive a car brand as its headline-stealing CEO. Whether you’re a Musk fan or you can’t stand the man is irrelevant, however – there’s no getting away from the impact that Tesla has had on the automotive world across the past decade, nor is there any denying the boldness and audacity of its concept vehicles.

The Tesla Cybertruck is a case in point. It’s hard to think of another concept car whose launch became worldwide news; it was a genuine water cooler moment right across the planet, and not least because the design, the concept itself and the wholehearted embracing of futurism alongside practicality was manufactured to get people talking.

All of that aside, the Cybertruck was and remains a fascinating creation. A futuremobile with a truly wild, cyborg-esque design and the full set of sharp angles, packed with next-gen driving tech, AI features and all-electric drivetrain is a fascinating proposition. It’s only a matter of time before it – or something remarkably close to it – comes into full production.

Aston Martin Lagonda Vision

Photo by Bascar, via Shutterstock.

Aston Martin doesn’t release a whole lot of concept cars… but when they do, the world stops and listens. The AM brand is a powerful one, built upon generations of superlative design and innovation. As such, the creative teams behind the iconic automobiles of Aston Martin have little to prove, and most of their most finessed ideas and concepts find their way into whatever much-feted release the brand have lined up for the future.

The Lagonda Vision was a truly fascinating example of what the esteemed and peerless British brand does best: an exercise in luxury, paired with performative excellence and earth-shattering speed. As a concept, it was pitched at changing the way we think of luxury driving, opening up a ‘living room’ styled interior fashioned entirely from high-end materials, and front seats that could rotate to face rear passengers.

The notion? To maximise the larger vehicle as a space in which to enjoy spending time not just on the road. This was elevated further with rear-hinged doors, hidden lights, and a nifty sliding shelf behind the back seat. The levitating ignition key raised a few eyebrows, but it’s hard to deny the cool factor that it provided. It’s a captivating concept as far as the future of luxury SUVs goes, and one delivered with effortless Aston Martin savoir-faire.

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