# The 43 Most Influential Concept Cars Ever Made

> Some of these show cars never drove in traffic, yet their fins, wedges and glass canopies reached dealer lots years later. Motorama dream machines and Italian coachbuilt wedges sit alongside electric and self-driving experiments from the last two decades.

*By YPB Team · Published November 2, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/the-43-most-influential-concept-cars-ever-made*

---

## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Buick Y-Job** — score 1000/1000
   Harley Earl's 1938 GM show car with hidden headlamps and a power-operated top, widely regarded as the industry's first concept car.
2. **Maserati Boomerang** — score 744/1000
   Giugiaro's Italdesign wedge on Maserati Bora mechanicals, shown as a non-running mock-up at Turin in 1971 and as a running car at Geneva in 1972, with gauges inside the steering-wheel hub.
3. **BMW GINA** — score 744/1000
   Chris Bangle's fabric-skinned roadster, built in 2001 and unveiled in 2008, with a stretchable textile body over a movable frame.
4. **Alfa Romeo BAT 5** — score 670/1000
   The first of Franco Scaglione's aerodynamic Bertone show cars on Alfa Romeo 1900 mechanicals, shown at Turin in 1953.
5. **Volvo ECC** — score 670/1000
   Volvo's 1992 Environmental Concept Car, a gas-turbine hybrid whose styling led to the 1998 Volvo S80.
6. **Mercedes-Benz C111** — score 670/1000
   A 1969 gullwing test car built to trial Wankel rotary engines, later used for diesel speed records in the 1970s.
7. **Bertone Testudo** — score 574/1000
   Giorgetto Giugiaro's 1963 Geneva show car for Bertone, built on a Chevrolet Corvair chassis with a canopy-style roof.
8. **Cadillac Sixteen** — score 515/1000
   A 2003 Detroit show sedan with a 13.6-litre V16 rated at 1,000 hp.
9. **BMW Vision EfficientDynamics** — score 515/1000
   A 2009 Frankfurt plug-in hybrid coupe with a three-cylinder diesel that previewed the BMW i8.
10. **Chrysler d'Elegance** — score 515/1000
   A 1952 Virgil Exner design built by Ghia whose shape was scaled down for the Volkswagen Karmann Ghia.
11. **Ford Mustang I** — score 515/1000
   A 1962 mid-engined two-seat roadster with a Ford Taunus V4, first driven in public at Watkins Glen by Dan Gurney.
12. **Ferrari Modulo** — score 446/1000
   Paolo Martin's 1970 Pininfarina design on a Ferrari 512 S chassis, with a canopy that slides forward for entry.
13. **Citroen Karin** — score 446/1000
   Trevor Fiore's pyramid-shaped 1980 Paris show car with three seats abreast and the driver in the middle.
14. **Audi Le Mans quattro** — score 446/1000
   A 2003 Frankfurt show car with a twin-turbo V10 that previewed the 2006 Audi R8.
15. **Mercedes-Benz F 015** — score 446/1000
   A self-driving lounge concept shown at CES 2015, with front seats that swivel to face the rear passengers.
16. **Pontiac Bonneville Special** — score 446/1000
   A 1954 Motorama two-seater with a fibreglass body and a Plexiglas bubble canopy; only two were built.
17. **Lamborghini Marzal** — score 446/1000
   Marcello Gandini's 1967 four-seater for Bertone with glass gullwing doors and a six-cylinder made from half a Lamborghini V12.
18. **Volvo VESC** — score 446/1000
   Volvo's 1972 Experimental Safety Car, which carried airbags, anti-lock brakes and a reversing camera.
19. **Lamborghini Countach LP500** — score 446/1000
   Marcello Gandini's 1971 Geneva prototype for the Countach, destroyed in a 1974 crash test; the photo shows the recreation Lamborghini Polo Storico unveiled in 2021.
20. **GM Firebird II** — score 446/1000
   GM's 1956 four-seat gas-turbine family car with a titanium body, built around the idea of guided highways.
21. **Chevrolet Mako Shark II** — score 446/1000
   A 1965 Corvette show car whose long-nosed, pinched-waist shape went into production as the 1968 C3 Corvette.
22. **GM Firebird I** — score 365/1000
   A single-seat, delta-winged 1953 GM experimental car powered by a gas turbine and shown at the 1954 Motorama.
23. **Ford GT90** — score 365/1000
   A 1995 Detroit show car with a quad-turbocharged V12 that launched Ford's New Edge design language.
24. **Renault DeZir** — score 365/1000
   Laurens van den Acker's first Renault concept, a red electric coupe shown in Paris in 2010 whose face reached the 2012 Clio.
25. **Audi Avus quattro** — score 365/1000
   A 1991 Tokyo show car with a polished aluminium body that previewed Audi's aluminium space-frame construction.
26. **Alfa Romeo Carabo** — score 365/1000
   A 1968 Gandini wedge on the Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 Stradale chassis that introduced the upward-opening scissor door.
27. **GM Firebird III** — score 365/1000
   A 1958 GM turbine car with a fibreglass body and seven short wings and fins, steered by a central joystick and shown at the 1959 Motorama.
28. **Mercedes-Benz Vision CLS** — score 365/1000
   A 2003 Frankfurt four-door coupe that previewed the 2004 CLS and its new body style.
29. **Oldsmobile Golden Rocket** — score 365/1000
   A 1956 Motorama fibreglass coupe whose roof panels lifted automatically when the doors opened.
30. **Audi TT Concept** — score 268/1000
   The 1995 Frankfurt show coupe that went into production almost unchanged as the 1998 Audi TT.
31. **Ferrari Mythos** — score 268/1000
   A 1989 Pininfarina open two-seater on Ferrari Testarossa mechanicals, shown at the Tokyo Motor Show.
32. **Jaguar C-X75** — score 268/1000
   Jaguar's 2010 Paris show car for its 75th anniversary, with twin micro gas turbines charging batteries for four electric motors.
33. **Alfa Romeo BAT 9** — score 268/1000
   The third and most road-oriented of the Bertone BAT cars, shown at Turin in 1955 with a traditional Alfa shield grille.
34. **Buick Centurion** — score 268/1000
   A 1956 Motorama car with a glass canopy and a rear-facing TV camera in place of a rear-view mirror.
35. **Corvette Stingray Racer** — score 268/1000
   Bill Mitchell's 1959 race car on a Corvette SS test chassis, whose shape previewed the 1963 Corvette Sting Ray.
36. **Chevrolet Mako Shark** — score 268/1000
   Larry Shinoda's 1961 XP-755 show car, painted to fade from blue to white like a shark, that previewed the 1963 Sting Ray.
37. **Alfa Romeo BAT 7** — score 268/1000
   Bertone's 1954 follow-up to the BAT 5, with tall curved rear fins and a drag coefficient quoted at 0.19.
38. **GM Le Sabre** — score 0/1000
   Harley Earl's 1951 jet-inspired roadster with a wraparound windshield and a supercharged aluminium V8.
39. **Lancia Stratos Zero** — score 0/1000
   Bertone's 1970 wedge, just 84 cm tall, entered by lifting the windscreen and powered by a Lancia Fulvia V4.
40. **Chevrolet Camaro Concept** — score 0/1000
   The 2006 Detroit show car that previewed the fifth-generation Camaro and played Bumblebee in 2007's Transformers.
41. **BMW E1** — score 0/1000
   BMW's 1991 battery-electric city car with a sodium-sulphur battery and a plastic body.
42. **Cadillac Cyclone** — score 0/1000
   A 1959 GM show car with twin nose cones meant to house radar sensors and an automatically retracting bubble top.
43. **BMW Turbo** — score 0/1000
   Paul Bracq's 1972 mid-engined gullwing coupe with a turbocharged four-cylinder, a forerunner of the BMW M1.

Tags: cars, design, concept cars, auto shows