2016’s coolest concept cars

We love concept cars here at Motor-Vision. With virtually every motor show that comes along, there will be a wild concept car that poses the question ‘what if?’ – be it in respect to futuristic technology or out-of-this-world aesthetic design.

In this feature, we’ve gathered the concept cars that have pricked our attention and excitement more than any others in 2016.

Vauxhall GT Concept

What’s really missing from the Vauxhall range right now? That’s right, a bonkers bolshie halo car radical enough to adorn the bedroom wall of any teenage car nut. Revealed at the Geneva Motor Show in March, the ruby-wheeled GT Concept was just that.

Despite its out-there looks, the inner workings of this space-age sports car are deceptively straightforward. No technical hybrid system here, just a simple one-litre petrol at the front to drive the wheels at the back, with the sole intention of having a good time.

Considering the car weighs less than a ton in total, its three-pot 143bhp engine dishes out enough oomph to get it up to 62mph in under eight seconds.

Vauxhall later revealed at September’s Paris Motor Show that a production car based heavily on the GT Concept could emerge by 2019, if the brand finds a way to make the cost of production work. We look forward to the day they do…

Pininfarina H2 Speed

Hydrogen-fuelled cars are still a very new anomaly in the automotive landscape, but that hasn’t stopped Italian design house Pininfarina from coming out with this.

The H2 Speed can go from zero to 62mph in 3.4 seconds and continues to pick up speed until it hits 186mph. Its hydrogen fuel tanks are quick to refill too, refuelling in just three minutes.

Faraday Future FFZERO1

You wouldn’t go to the Apple Store for windscreen washer fluid, so it’s perplexing why an outrageous concept car would be unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show, or CES as it’s more widely known.

That’s exactly what happened with the FFZERO1 though, because this one-seater hypercar boasts some clever tech. The car is capable of learning the driver’s preferences and automatically adjusts the internal settings to suit.

As for performance, it has four motors over each wheel, which propel the car to 60mph in under three seconds, with a top speed of 200mph.

While Faraday Future does plan to bring a production car to market in 2020, the FFZERO1 won’t be it and was devised merely to showcase the brand’s capabilities.

McLaren 675LT JVCKENWOOD

Also revealed at CES, this stunning concept car features a steering wheel that looks more like an XBox controller than anything else. It has a wireless networking system that lets it communicate with other cars on the road about traffic and accidents.

BMW Vision Next 100

What will BMWs be like in 2116? Bearing in mind how amazing the brand’s current range is with the i8, that was a hefty challenge to task designers, but they eventually came up with this: the Vision Next 100.

When flicked into autonomous mode, the steering wheel retracts into the dashboard to create a clean, fuss-free aesthetic, while a heads-up display projects any relevant information onto the windscreen.

Like the FFZERO1, it too features technology that learns drivers’ preferences and makes changes accordingly in advance.

Sister brand Mini paraded this intriguing concept in 2016 too. Built for ridesharing, the Mini Vision Next 100 works like a driverless taxi and recognises where you are when it comes to pick you up.

Rolls-Royce – also part of the BMW Group – unveiled its own Vision Next 100 concept as well. As you’d expect, it pushes luxury to the limit with what is essentially a living room in the back. More on that here.

So those were our favourite concept cars to emerge in 2016? Which were your highlights? Tell us in the comments section below.