Monday, 31 January 2011

Concept cars Design

Concept cars design are prototypes of ideal cars. They are usually showcased for public exhibition. In the fiercely competitive world of car manufacturing, manufacturers are constantly designing and making special cars to show their ability to design and manufacture highly useful cars, built ahead of the times. As the name goes, such cars are purely conceptual in nature.

Why are concept cars conceptual?

Manufacturers of such cars do not go for mass production. This is because prototype cars are non-traditional and are made of very expensive materials or materials like paper or carbon fiber, mass production of which is not feasible. The designs and layouts of such cars are too fanciful to be implemented practically.

Purpose of designing concept cars:

Concept cars are made combining the best of modern technology with the highly effective and time-tested layouts of cars from the past. Reactions to such cars enable automobile companies feel the pulse of the market. The fanciness of the cars set the pace for future designs. Manufacturers come to know whether a car is acceptable or requires a few modifications before going to production. Cars which evince little interest are usually destroyed. Those which catch the imagination of the public are preserved as a strategy to expand the list of company patents.

New Porsche Concept Car

Who would have thought that you could have a mean looking, fast racing, good looking sports car that also has impressive green credentials? Well, that's exactly what Porsche are proposing with their latest concept car: the Porsche 918 Spyder. Let's take a closer look.

Unveiled on the eve of the famous Geneva Auto Show, the Stuttgart based company, Porsche, lifted the lid on their new concept car which happens to be a mid engine, two seater sports cars with hybrid and electric drive technology. It certainly looks mean, but what are the stats like? Remarkably impressive when looked at. Nought to Sixty in less than 3.2 seconds with a top speed of 198mph and it happens to be faster than the Carrera GT, as proven by successfully finishing the Nurburgring lap in less than 7 minutes 30 seconds.

So, how can a car have all this power and claim to be green? The 918 Spyder has electric motors at the front and rear axles. The drive to the front wheels is purely electric via a fixed ratio. The liquid cooled lithium ion battery pack sits behind the cockpit and can be ideally charged at home or by brake regeneration.

This sports car is a high revving V-8 related, 3.4 litre racing car. It produces more than 500 brake horse power with engine revs of up to 9200 rpm. Yet, it does an incredible 78mpg, driven the right way, plus the emissions level sit at just 70 grams of CO2 per kilometre.

The chassis is made from CFP (Carbon fiber reinforced plastic), along with the use of a lot of magnesium and aluminium to keep the frame as light as possible. The stylish interior is designed to be driver orientated with touch screens and intuitive controls.

The Porsche 918 Spyder whilst still a concept car at this stage is a sports car that looks exactly how a sports car should look and drives exactly how a sports car should drive along with boosting very impressive green credentials. It promises to be a car of the future holding real production possibilities which could set a new standard for the next generation of sports cars.

Concept Cars Models

Concept cars model is a term that the majority of car owners or drivers know nothing about. I had always thought that a concept auto was the clay model that is made for a new car style. That's nowhere near close, because concept cars are actual real cars built and ready to drive. A concept vehicle is a show car or prototype meant to be driven around to showcase a new concept, style, technology, etc.

Concept vehicles are usually shown at the big motor shows throughout the world. They're shown to consumers to gauge their reactions to radical design changes or concepts. The idea of the concept or show car was developed by the GM designer Harley Earl. The concept auto is a real car, but it never goes into production directly. It would have to changed for safety, practicality and costs to be a production vehicle instead of just a concept vehicle.

Concept cars have extreme or radical engines, designs, materials, layouts, doors or things not found on production cars. Most concept cars never get past the scale model or computer drawings. A small numbers of concept vehicles are actually fully functional and some can't even move faster than 10 mph safely. After the concept vehicle is done being used, the cars are usually destroyed but some survive in company museum or in storage. The 1954 concept car Lincoln Futura was in a custom car shop for years until it was used as the Batmobile in the Batman TV series in 1966.

There are some concept cars that are well known for one reason or another. The Buick Y Job was designed in the 1930s by Harley Earl and is considered to be the first concept vehicle. The General Motors Le Sabre built in 1951 introduced the 12 volt electrics and aluminum 215 ci V8. The 1959 Cadillac Cyclone was one of Harley Earl's last designs. Chevrolet Volt is one of the first plug in hybrid electric vehicle concept cars.