Category Archives: CONCEPT CARS

CONCEPT CARS

Cupra Tindaya Concept Debuts – Less SUV, More Spaceship

Cupra has a habit of giving its cars names that sound like ancient gods, and its latest concept is no exception. Meet the Cupra Tindaya, a show car named after a volcanic mountain in Fuerteventura – because, naturally, nothing screams “driver focus” like a giant lump of molten rock. Apparently its copper-toned cliffs are a nod to Cupra’s brand signature. So, not just a mountain, then. A lifestyle choice.

The Tindaya will make its grand entrance at the Munich motor show on September 8, and Cupra insists it’s going to be a sneak peek into the brand’s future design language. Translation: prepare for another round of triangular lights, angular creases, and the sort of aggressive stance that makes even parked cars look like they’ve just finished a Red Bull and a triple espresso.

But here’s the twist – while the exterior will no doubt be suitably pointy and mean, Cupra is making a song and dance about the interior. The concept is billed as “the maximum expression of driver focus” – which sounds like something you’d find in a yoga retreat brochure. Early images suggest a yoke-style steering wheel, a chunky central spine nicked from the electric Tavascan, and racing seats that look like they’d happily eject you into another dimension if you so much as sneeze mid-corner.

If it all feels a bit déjà vu, that’s because the Tindaya’s cabin takes more than a few cues from the DarkRebel concept Cupra showed off last year. The idea, according to Cupra, is to fuse “human and machine, where the driving experience and emotions reach their fullest expression.” In other words, they want you to feel like Iron Man every time you slip behind the wheel.

This shiny concept arrives hot on the heels of Cupra’s recent range-wide makeover, where everything from combustion to electric models got the same angry new face, complete with broader grille, sharp nose and those trademark triangular LEDs. And Munich won’t just be about the flashy Tindaya: Cupra will also roll out a camouflaged production version of the new Raval, its baby EV hatchback twinned with the Volkswagen ID 2. Priced around £25k, it’ll go head-to-head with the reborn Renault 5 when it lands in 2026.

So, what is the Tindaya really? A design statement, a rolling mood board, and a very loud announcement that Cupra is doubling down on emotion, attitude, and triangular light signatures. Whether that translates into something you’ll actually want to drive remains to be seen. But one thing’s certain: it’ll look furious about it.

Source: Cupra

CONCEPT CARS

Corvette CX Concept: The Future Just Got Loud (and a Bit Electric)

Chevrolet, bless them, is on a bit of a roll. When they’re not busy making Nürburgring lap times look like typos with the ZR1X, they’re clearly holding late-night pizza-fuelled design meetings where the words “practical” and “subtle” are banned.

The result? The Corvette CX Concept — a car that looks like it’s been beamed in from the year 2087 to shame every other sports car in Monterey. It’s low, it’s wide, it’s angry. And it’s electric. Yes, electric. Your ears might miss the V8, but your organs won’t — because the CX comes packing four motors, one for each wheel, and a battery the size of a small apartment. That’s 2,000 horsepower. Two. Thousand.

The “X” in CX stands for “C10,” which in Chevy-speak means “tenth generation.” Sadly, they’re not actually building it, which is the cruelest kind of foreplay. But Chevy swears this is the design blueprint for future Corvettes — so you can expect production models to inherit the CX’s forward-lunging nose, chiselled chin, and enough vents to qualify as a Swiss cheese sculpture.

It’s all the handiwork of GM’s finest in Michigan and the Motorsports Aero wizards in Charlotte. They even fitted a “Vacuum Fan System” to suck air through the open-channel bodywork, which sounds suspiciously like something Batman would approve of.

And the doors? Forget doors. The whole canopy tilts forward like a fighter jet. Inside, it’s Inferno Red leather, milled aluminium, carbon fibre, and a yoke-style steering wheel. The dashboard? Doesn’t exist. Instead, the windshield is a giant head-up display. The CX doesn’t so much tell you you’re in the future as drop you head-first into it.

If that’s all too “daily drivable” for you, meet its spicier sibling: the CX.R Vision Gran Turismo. This one’s not just digital fantasy for Gran Turismo 7 — it’s an electric–petrol hybrid with a twin-turbo 2.0-litre V8 screaming its head off to 15,000 rpm, assisted by three electric motors. The result? Still 2,000 horsepower, but now with enough noise to annoy every neighbour in a three-mile radius. Add the massive wing, racing livery, and ride height so low it could limbo under a caterpillar, and you’ve got something that makes the standard CX look like a school run.

Will you ever own one? No. Will you ever drive one? Only if you own a PlayStation. But that’s the point — the Corvette CX is less a car and more a mission statement. A promise that when the electric Corvette finally arrives, it’s going to look like this. And that’s worth every digital lap you’re about to spend your weekend doing.

Source: Chevrolet

CONCEPT CARS

Lexus LFR: The LFA’s Spiritual Successor or the LC500’s Angrier Cousin?

Well, this was unexpected. You go to The Quail expecting to be fed canapés and watch a billionaire try to reverse a McLaren Speedtail into a hedge, and Lexus turns up with something that looks like it escaped from Gran Turismo 8. They’re calling it the Sport Concept—which sounds like what a PowerPoint file would be named before marketing gets involved—but we all know what’s really going on here. This is the first proper glimpse of what we’ve been whispering about for ages: the Lexus LFR.

And, my word, it’s gorgeous. Imagine an LFA and an LC500 got stuck in a wind tunnel together, were left overnight, and in the morning you found this thing sitting there with a smug grin.

Lexus is keeping its cards closer to its chest than a poker player at the world championships, but here’s what we do know. It’s a front-engine, rear-drive, twin-turbo V8 job with what’s likely a rear transaxle—because the engine’s pushed so far back it’s practically trying to escape into the firewall. There’s a Toyota twin too, but that one won’t be coming to the US. Shame. Oh, and it’s going to form the bones for Toyota’s next GT3 race car, which means under all that concept flash, this thing is serious.

The details are delicious: exhaust pipes hiding under the rear wing like some secret weapons system, giant rear vents that could have been lifted from the LFA’s design sketchbook, and big side intakes that might feed cooling air to brakes, the gearbox, or possibly the afterburners. On the rear brake light, there are four tiny fans—no one’s saying what they do, but it’s the sort of thing that makes car nerds rub their hands like Victorian villains.

Of course, it’s still very much a concept car. There’s no interior—just blacked-out windows—and even the Bridgestone logos were shaved off the tyres, presumably so we’d focus on the bodywork rather than start price-matching rubber. But Lexus’s promise that the production car will look “a lot like this” is enough to have us making the sort of noise you normally reserve for spotting a wild Ferrari F40 in traffic.

Fun fact: Toyota and Lexus actually benchmarked the AMG GT R when developing it, because it’s one of the best front-engine, rear transaxle sports cars in recent memory. This explains the proportions, the long bonnet, and the confident stance. It’s also a cheeky nod that Lexus isn’t aiming for “good for a Lexus” anymore—they’re aiming for world class.

The last time Lexus gave us a truly uncompromising sports car, it was called the LFA. It had a screaming V10, cost as much as a country estate, and was instantly one of the best cars on Earth. Now, this? This looks like they might be ready to do it again—but with turbos, race-car DNA, and just enough attitude to make the Germans sweat.

Brace yourselves. The LFR might just be coming. And it’s not here to play nice.

Source: Lexus; Photo: Brian Silvestro / Motor1