Which Concept Car's Interior Should Have Gone Into Production? - Jalopnik

GM

When we talk about the best concept cars, we tend to focus on their exteriors more than their interiors. Which is fair enough. You can do some crazy things if you don't have to worry about production realities. Plus, interiors tend to change even more than exteriors do when concepts get put into production, and some concepts don't even have interiors yet anyway. In order to build a concept car, you need an exterior of some kind.

But dang it, concept car interiors are just cool. Some of them stick with you, and even years later, you find yourself wishing someone had been brave enough to put something like that into production. For me, it's the 2002 GM Hy-Wire concept. I don't think anyone would call the Hy-Wire's exterior styling "attractive" or "like anything you'd want to be seen driving," and hydrogen powertrains make more sense in commercial trucking, but I've known I wanted to see a production version of that interior since the moment Younger Me laid eyes on it. 

It would have been so cool

The Hy-Wire's whole thing was that all the car stuff was contained in the skateboard chassis, and thanks to its fighter jet-derived drive-by-wire system, it didn't need a steering column or pedals. And without their usual constraints, the designers went wild. The steering wheel isn't fixed on one side or the other and instead slides to either side. Except it isn't really a wheel. Instead, it's more of a steering yoke. Just not the kind of steering yoke that Tesla tried to introduce. 

On top of all that, the designers integrated the throttle and accelerator into the steering yoke, freeing your feet from their annoying traffic duties. Just twist to accelerate and squeeze to slow down. Would it be more enjoyable to drive than a conventional car? I can't tell you, because GM never put it into production. James May seemed to enjoy himself when he drove it, so that's at least one point in the Hy-Wire's favor. I can also see how it might be hard to integrate airbags into that cabin, but you know what? I choose to believe in old fashioned American innovation. I think they could still get it done. 

Odds are, you're much more normal and haven't spent nearly 25 years disappointed that GM never put the Hy-Wire interior into a production car, but I bet there's at least one concept interior that you still wish had become reality. Whatever it is, let us hear about it down in the comments.