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Article: Motoring: Yes, it's lovely - but what does it do? Concept cars - what are they good for? Quite a lot, actually, even though they may not see the end of a production line.
- Article from:
- The Independent (London, England)
- Article date:
- June 10, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2000 The Independent - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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As a thing, a chunk of modern computer-assisted art, the Seat
Salsa is extraordinary. A confident melding of subtle curves snuggled
beneath soft silver paint: beautiful, beguiling. Ford's 021C is cute,
naive and knowing, all at the same time: bold, almost Britney.
Concept cars flirt, tease, look great in pictures, but rarely make
it to production - in the car industry, any battle between design
integrity and cost accounting tends to go the way of the bean-
counters. Concept cars, then, are the supermodels of the automotive
business. Most often, they don't do: they just are.
Inevitably, they posit big solutions to tomorrow's challenges,
make impossibly lofty technology - fuel cells, anyone? ...