Favorably Received Concept Cars Now Stand a Better Chance of Being Made

According to Bloomberg News, concept cars for decades have been a mainstay in the auto industry. They started appearing in the late 1930s with vehicles like the Buick Y-Job convertible. In the '50s, General Motors designer Harley Earl helped popularize the idea with his traveling Motorama shows, where middle-America car buyers would gawk at such revolutionary things as the pontoon boat-shaped Cadillac Cyclone and the Pontiac Club de Mer, which was shaped like a silver iPhone with a dorsal fin.

Fast-forward 60 years, and concepts still help test the waters with potential drivers and investors, whether it's with a new technology idea, a new styling direction, or a new philosophy on transportation.

What makes a concept car successful? It's a combination of generating hype, demonstrating close-to-realistic technology, and being either feasible enough to produce or revolutionary enough to inspire. This year's crop -- in the luxury field, at least -- focuses heavily on that electrified life.

Porsche's Mission E is powered by two magnet synchronous motors that reach the equivalent of 590 horsepower and get to 60 miles per hour in about 3.5 seconds. For more on today's concept cars, click here.