These Are the Decade’s Most Breathtaking Car Concepts

Concepts are usually designed to show an automaker’s vision of what cars in the near (or distant) future will look and be like. They’re usually wrong in their predictions, especially if they try to foretell anything that’s further in the future than, say, one or two decades.

But even if the predictions are not accurate, concepts are still cool and interesting and always worth a look because they are imbued with the ethos of the automaker behind them. Further into the future, we will look back at these design studies and smile, much like we do now when we see what people in the 1930s or 1950s predicted ‘the car of the future’ to be like.

We’ll definitely very fondly remember the 2012 Alfa Romeo Disco Volante concept, a modern reinterpretation of a 1950s classic. It somehow managed to surpass the look of the original, yet it was still clearly an homage to that car. We will look back on it and appreciate how it beautifully melded 1950s designs with what we’ll come to know as 2010s lines.

Another of this decade’s greats has to be the 2013 Audi Nanuk quattro concept. Sure, Audi is a prolific maker of design studies, some closer to production than others, yet to me it’s the Nanuk that stands out above all others just because it’s so crazy in its design. It’s essentially a mid-engined supercar with a raised ride height, made to be driven very quickly even when tarmac runs out - it’s essentially a reworked R8 on stilts, and it’s awesome.

BMW is also known for its cool concepts, but its most daring of the decade has to be the 2016 BMW Vision Next 100 study. Unlike most cars on this list (and as its name suggests), it previews what cars might be like further into the century, when we’ll have relegated control of the wheel to artificial intelligence. It’s an outlandish take on what the car might become and certainly not devoid of aesthetic merit (plus those cool extending wheel arches are just amazing to see in action).

Cadillac doing what Cadillac does best is epitomized by the 2011 Cadillac Ciel concept, a gorgeous drop-top with a bold front end, flowing lines, four frameless doors and and interior that can seat four. It was made to preview the brand’s new styling direction, but what it achieved was to blow our socks off with its elegant lines and excellent mix of old world luxury and cutting edge design.

Another car along the same lines as the Cadillac Ciel is the 2017 Mercedes-Benz Vision Maybach 6 Cabriolet, although it’s arguably even more striking. It has two doors instead of four and ridiculously exaggerated front and rear ends in the quest to make it look and feel like a yacht for the road. And it thoroughly succeeds in this respect, right down to the wood floor and the choice of marine-inspired colors.

Right in the middle of the decade, in 2015, we were shown the stunning Mazda RX-Vision, a car that we hoped previewed the Japanese automaker’s reentry into the world the sports coupe, where it had not been present since the days of the RX-7 and RX-8. The concept has to be one of the most beautiful coupe shapes ever penned and the simple thought that a variation of this design might reach production in the not too distant future can’t but excite us.

It really seems the 2010s have been the years of the sexy luxury two-doors, with stunners such as the 2019 Bentley EXP 100 GT Concept. It was unveiled to mark the British automaker’s 100th anniversary and it is breathtaking thanks to its sleek, swept back profile, elongated hood and long rear overhang to balance it all out, plus all the details that just make it even more special. Oh, and those Lambo-style doors just make it even more special.

There were also plenty of great supercar concepts in the 2010s, but none impressed me more than the 2017 Lamborghini Terzo Millennio whose name literally translates to “third millenium.” It was created by Lambo in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and its goal is to show where the company’s future offerings will be headed. Aside from its bold look, complete with orange light-up rims, it was also created to raise awareness about supercapacitors and their benefits over conventional batteries (hinting that Lambo might go all-electric in the not too distant future).

The 2010s also marked the rise of Hyundai (and Kia) whose production cars not only matched but even outclassed their traditional established rivals. And their concepts weren’t bad either; just take the 2018 Hyundai Le Fil Rouge Concept, a study made to preview the brand’s future design direction (the new Sonata, for instance, is inspired by this concept). Le Fil Rouge is a sleek four-door coupe that foretells beautiful things in the Korean automaker’s future.