Awesome Concepts

Toyota goes retro with a sweet 2-door 4Runner for the 2024 SEMA Show. The 4Runner TRD Surf Concept has a removable hard-top for open-air riding, weatherproof seats and flooring, and a spot to carry surfboards and other beach gear. It’s been widened and lifted, rolling on 37-inch tires with a long-travel suspension. See it in person in Las Vegas from 11.5 to 11.8.24.

Josh King’s M-Con is a Bluetooth gamepad for smartphones that works with the iPhone’s MagSafe connector (and compatible cases). Once attached, it slides in and out the back of the phone like the controls on the PSP Go. Josh is planning on raising funds for the gamepad on Kickstarter in 2025. Retro Game Corps got their hands on a working prototype.

Most locks on doors and cabinets are pretty ordinary. 3D animator fkt likes to dream up designs for unique lock mechanisms, which make the process of locking things much more interesting to observe. Here’s a playlist of some of fkt’s amazing concept locks, each of which looks like it could be turned into a real-world lock with enough maker skills.

Typical LED and LCD screens on watches and clocks use seven segments to create Arabic numerals from 0 to 9. Pekero came up with a design concept for a 38-segment display that can show Chinese and Japanese numbers and some letters as well. At the end, they show how it might look on a watch, and you can check out an SVG file here.

Sick of the hinges on your glasses breaking and rendering your otherwise beloved frame useless? Better hope Paul Cohen’s one-off creation catches on. The product designer made eyeglasses for himself where the arms attach to the rest of the frame using magnets instead of hinges. The arms easily come off, allowing its case to stay compact.

The BMW Concept Skytop is a chunky yet clean two-seater that takes cues from the Z8 and the 503. Its muted silver coat transitions into a reddish-brown tone at the rear. The latter matches the interior and the two-piece hardtop, both of which are clad in leather. BMW Blog has an extended look at the concept car.

If you’re wondering what on Earth that watch Lewis Hamilton had at the Monaco Grand Prix was, it’s actually a proof of concept. It’s a one-of-a-kind Pilot’s Watch Chronograph 41 that IWC made to showcase Ceralume, its luminous ceramic material. Amazingly, IWC claims that Ceralume watch cases can glow in the dark for more than 24 hours.

Don’t have the balance to use a stand-up paddleboard? Decathlon teamed up with Outercraft to design the Hydrobike – a unique watercraft that combines a paddleboard, pedal boat, and catamaran. It has inflatable floats, a single-seat, and modular storage for outdoor gear. It’s a proof-of-concept at this point, but we hope to see it go into production.

We’ve seen some unusual shoes thanks largely to the art collective MSCHF. But artist Canyaon has them beat in terms of variety and creativity. His Instagram page is packed with weird, wild, and impractical shoe designs, including ride-on off-road sneakers, steel welder’s boots, BBQ shoes that hold hot dogs and spatulas, and cocktail-dispensing winter boots.

Genesis revisits its beautiful X Speedium Coupe with a snow-white winter edition of the concept car. Outfitted with a slimline ski rack, custom Anavon skis, and LED fog lights, the electric grand tourer is the perfect ride to take you to and from the slopes. We’re not sure if this means the Speedium is any closer to production, but we sure hope so.

Insight Editions offers a glimpse inside the mind of filmmaker and adventurer James Cameron. The 392-page coffee table book is packed with exclusive images from Cameron’s personal archives, revealing concepts that led to classics like The Terminator, Aliens, Titanic, Avatar, and other films that were never produced.

Celebrating 50 years, Toyota’s Calty Design Research has helped design some of the company’s most popular vehicles, including Camry, Corolla, Supra, Tacoma, and Tundra. But their Baby Lunar Cruiser is a flight of fancy. Inspired by the classic FJ40 Land Cruiser, it has in-wheel motors, airless tires, joystick controls, and an augmented reality dashboard.

Mercedes’ sleek concept car pays tribute to the 300 SL Gullwing and C 111 Concept while looking ahead. Its curvy body is designed to optimize aerodynamics, while its electric drivetrain provides speed and efficiency. Inside, you’ll find cool touches like an F1-style steering wheel, shiny quilted silver seats, and a dot-matrix screen that spans the dashboard.

Porsche’s concept electric hypercar picks up where the 918 Spyder left off. Its sleek exoskeleton is made from carbon fiber-reinforced plastic, with scissor doors and curved glass surrounding its cockpit. The design showcases elements inspired by Porsche race cars and would aim to be the fastest road-legal car around the Nürburgring if produced.

This unique bridge allows pedestrians to cross a river or canal, and lets ships pass underneath by rolling over to increase its clearance. It uses a hand-cranked cable system to flip the bridge along a rippled track. The concept was turned into a real bridge by Thomas Randall-Page.

Hyundai’s IONIQ 5 EV swept the 2022 New York Auto Show awards. This week Hyundai did it again with the IONIQ 6 and unveiled the IONIQ 5 Disney100 Platinum Concept car, the first-ever collaboration between Disney Imagineering and an automaker. A limited-edition production version will commemorate Disney’s 100th anniversary.