And just like that, half the decade’s gone. Well, over half actually, given that we’re closer to the start of 2026 than the end of 2024. Yikes.
Even with an absence of motor shows through the first couple of years of the 2020s for obvious reasons, we’ve still seen some sensational concept cars trotted out over the last five years. Some will go on to directly inspire road cars, others are destined to slip into semi-obscurity until someone writes a ‘hey, remember this?’ style article in 20 years time.
Regardless, these are the 10 concept cars that have wowed us the most during the 2020s so far.
BMW Speedtop
BMW Speedtop
Let’s start with a recent one. Revealed just a couple of months ago at Villa d’Este, the Speedtop reminds us all that, despite recent efforts, BMW can still design an astonishingly beautiful car. Essentially, it takes the M8-based Skytop targa concept from 2024 and turns it into one of our favourite types of cars of all – a shooting brake.
Combine that with BMW’s excellent 4.4-litre, 616bhp twin-turbo V8 and you’ve got a recipe for getting people like us all flustered and hot under the collar. Also, it’s brown. Brown is good.
Will it go into production? Yes! It won’t be mass-produced, though. BMW’s going to build a limited run of 70 of them.
Toyota GR GT3
Toyota GR GT3
Unveiled at the Tokyo Auto Salon in 2022, the Toyota GR GT3 concept (which later popped up at a couple of shows wearing Lexus badges) is, when you boil down to it, a big, front-engined GT car. This, we like.
We also like the fact that it’s essentially designed as a homologation special, a preview of the car Toyota’s cooking up to serve as the basis for its next-gen entry in GT3 racing, which requires its cars to be based on production models.
Will it go into production? Yep. Right from the outset, Toyota was making noises about this car having production intent, and prototypes of both the road and race versions have been spotted running around the world since it was unveiled. Most recently, they ran in public for the first time at Goodwood, hinting that a production version is very near.
Mercedes Vision EQXX
Mercedes Vision EQXX
We love clever design and engineering, and 2022’s Mercedes Vision EQXX, a fully-functioning demo car, is chock-full of it. It’s designed to eke out as much range as possible from an electric car, and does so by being as light, aerodynamic and energy-dense as possible.
The result? In the summer of 2022, the EQXX set off from Mercedes’ hometown of Stuttgart, drove 675 miles to Silverstone Circuit (minus the 31-odd miles in the Channel Tunnel), and then did 11 laps of the track at speed – all on a single charge.
Will it go into production? It’s unlikely. The Vision EQXX is really just a rolling testbed for Merc to work on its electric tech, so while features of the car might find their way onto production Mercs, we probably won’t see anything that looks like it going on sale anytime soon.
Jaguar Type 00
Jaguar Type 00
Yep, we’re going there. We’ve got our flamesuits on. Very few cars, concept or production, have been quite as divisive as the one Jaguar unveiled in late 2024 as part of its big electric rebirth, although it feels like much of that was driven by accompanying marketing, and the fact that our terminally online lives lead us to constantly want to argue with someone.
It’s worth remembering, though, that some of the most memorable Jags of yesteryear – the E-Type, the XJ220, the original XF – have emerged from the company being bold and taking risks. By that measure, the big, dramatic and polarising Type 00 is a proper Jag through and through.
Will it go into production? No – the Type 00 doesn’t preview a specific production car, but rather the design language we can expect from the new era of Jags, set to kick off with a big four-door saloon late this year.
Nissan 20-23
Nissan 20-23
Unveiled, funnily enough, in 2023, the Nissan 20-23 was a design study for a mad electric hot hatch that looked like some sort of cyberpunk Group B racer. With a ludicrously wide stance, big spoiler and short, squat wheelbase, we were immediately smitten with it.
Penned by Nissan’s European design studio in London, it was apparently inspired by online sim racing. We’re not sure what it’s got to do with spunking hundreds on a sim rig only to rage quit when someone punts you off at Monza T1, but either way, we liked it.
Will it go into production? Not in this guise it won’t, but little did we know at the time that those rounded front and rear lights were actually a glimpse at the new Micra. Then again, said Micra is based on the new Renault 5, and that’s getting its own unhinged widebody version in the form of the Turbo 3E, so…
Renault Twingo
Renault Twingo
We’ve known for some time that Renault’s been planning EV revivals of three of its most iconic small cars – the 4, 5 and Twingo. The first two of those are now with us in production form, and the Twingo’s not far behind them.
The concept, first unveiled in 2023, gives the cute, froggy looks of the original car a minimalist 21st-century makeover, while retaining everything that makes it such a lovable little tyke.
Will it go into production? Yes indeed, and better yet, it should look very similar to the concept. Très bien!
Hyundai N Vision 74
Hyundai N Vision 74
We don’t know exactly what led to Hyundai deciding to revisit the obscure 1974 Pony Coupe Concept and reimagine it as a high-performance, hydrogen-powered drift machine, but boy, are we glad it did.
The N Vision 74 captured enthusiast imaginations like few other concept cars when it was revealed in 2022, and showed how serious the company was about building genuinely fun electrified performance cars – something it put into practice with the Ioniq 5 N.
Will it go into production? Maaaaaybe? It’s been a bit on-again-off-again, but the most recent development – a very similarly-shaped car blurred out in a bit of footage in Hyundai’s design studio – offers hope.
DS SM Tribute
DS SM Tribute
Not every good concept has to stare into the future. See the Twingo and N Vision for proof, but also this, the 2024 DS SM Tribute. Essentially, it’s a 21st-century reworking of the Citroen SM, the utterly beguiling and financially ruinous Maserati-powered luxury coupe of the 1970s.
A successful reworking it is, managing to nail the brief of looking distinctly modern yet clearly referencing the car it’s inspired by. We can’t help but feel it would be a truly spectacular way of travelling.
Will it go into production? Hopefully. DS’ design boss has previously said the company was looking into ways of producing the SM Tribute as a limited-run thing. It could even get Maserati mechanicals like the original – with the two brands once again united under Stellantis, it’s been floated that a production car could use the platform and rorty V6 of the new GranTurismo. Mmmm.
Genesis X Gran Coupe
Genesis X Gran Coupe
Let’s stick with big, elegant coupes and take a look at one unveiled this year. Genesis, the upmarket Lexus-ish offshoot of Hyundai, has a real habit of showing off stunning concepts then not building them, but we really hope it makes an exception with the X Gran Coupe.
A big, stately coupe (duh), it’s essentially a two-door version of the production G90 saloon, and was joined at the 2025 Seoul Motor Show by a cabriolet too. Both have tailpipes, too, hinting that they’re not the usual electrically-driven 2020s concept fare. It’s the coupe we love the most, though, especially because it has an interior inspired by olives. No, really.
Will it go into production? Given Genesis’ track record on such things, we wouldn’t hold our breath, but we really hope we’re wrong.
VW ID GTI
VW ID GTI
The electric hot hatch market is still young but quickly ballooning, and we’ve been largely impressed by what we’ve tried so far. One badge that’s yet to make the leap is Volkswagen’s fabled GTI moniker, but the company has plans there, as previewed by 2023’s ID GTI concept.
Essentially a hot version of the ID2All concept from the same year, it incorporates all the GTI hallmarks we know and love into a rather smart-looking little package, roughly the size of a Polo.
Will it go into production? Yep. In fact, we’re mere weeks from seeing the production version of the regular ID2All, set to be called the ID2, so the GTI should follow before too long. Insider reports suggest that, as well as a ‘regular’ GTI, there could be a Clubsport version complete with 282bhp and a limited-slip diff. Sign us up, please.
#Concept #Cars #2020s
