1993 Thunderbolt

2000 Power Wagon

Tata Aria

Dodge Viper GTS-R

"Almost anything is possible. We can work with steel, wood and leather or carbon fibre, titanium & aluminium", says Barber of D3, a pocketsized industry power house of Concept Cars.

January's Detroit Motor Show featured an astonishing 20+ design models. On the face of it they carried the badges of their manufacturers. But, like many aspects of the car business, the badge hides a multi-million-dollar business of incredible skills that builds the concepts to short deadlines & incredibly high quality. "It's like a pressure cooker every single day. You've got to love cars to do this job", says George G., MD, Metalcrafts. And he speaks the holy truth. At the Detroit show, VW's immaculate running concept `AAC' became the centre of close attention, since it was built in just 8 weeks. The Futura company built `Jaguar's non-running F-type sports car' out of fibre glass in just 15 weeks. So superbly made, some sports goers even assumed it was made of metal - one of the greatest compliments to pay a model maker.

Such skills do not come cheap: a metal bodied, fully running concept could cost upto $2m. But who's complaining. Not the world markets, who get better looking cars. And India too is catching up. What with all the choices available in models.

Many still feel that the Hyundai Santro, The Fiat Uno (a 1970s concept), to name a few, could have had better looks, if as a concept car, it was first shown to the Indian Consumer before launch. The birth of a styling theme should be tested for market viability. So auto show cases have become the mantra. The two seater Tata Aria, with its projector headlamps and sleek, curvy body panels was displayed with alternate body styles at the Auto Expo 2000. Along with the Oooh's & Aaah's serious feedback on consumer reactions was gauged, which will decide the finishing touches to the car. Another concept to receive allocades was the Ford's `Icon Concept 2003'. Even Fiat previewed the Fiat Multipha (bi-fuel) concept utility vehicle that it intends to launch in India.

To be sure, most final changes suggested by consumers only lead to minor changes, like engine power or conversion from 2-box to three box design, but any change will definitely ensure that no car has to be accepted just because of power, mileage or other benefits by the increasingly asthetic savvy Indian. He can always opt for the better looking model that offers the same benefits.

Typical concept car planning schedule Week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 Design(1) Jaguar F-Type VW's AAC QuarterScaleModel (2) Digitise Scale Model(3) Full Size Clay(4) Mill Shape of Clay(5) Surface Clay(6) Clay Symmetry(7) Built Fibre Glass Exterior(8) Complete Full Running Model(9) The starting point is the car maker's styling sketch (1) or computer design, which gets turned into a quarter-scale model (2). This is one of the most time-consuming processes, absorbing a month at the start of a project. Then digital measuring machines map the shape as computer codes (3) ready to drive three-dimensional milling machines. While that process is going on, technicians are preparing the chassis on the "plate" and building around that a wooden framework or "buck" covered in clay ready for finishing (4). The buck stars out with a skin of clay about 100mm thick, but by the time it is milled, that is down to about 40mm. Around 2000 kg of clay is used for each model. That is not cheap. At about $20/kg, each model starts off with 40,000 pounds of clay. Fortunately, any waste can be recycled. For cost reasons, foam is sometimes used instead of clay. Placed on the milling machine, the clay is shaped (5), a process that takes a week. Then the design reaches a critical phase (6) - hand finishing. This is the last opportunity to alter the form of the concept and any of its major details. The end of this process is called the "styling freeze". The car's shape is now fixed. A week is then spent making sure the model is symmetrical (7). Any small aberrations will be painfully clear come show day. The concept can then take two forms- either a well-finished outer without an interior and unable to run (8) or a full-running model with a unctioning interior (9). Cost and time will dictate where the concept goes next. Its outer shell can be made from glass fibre, carbon fibre or metal. The first two are made from moulds cast from quick-drying plaster poured over the clay. The latter is made possible by the eye and hand of incredibly skilled craftsmen, whose numbers are dwindling around the world. Totol production time is around 24 weeks for a composite-bodied concept and 36 for a metal bodied runner.