Prototype Vehicles

Prototypes

1 : an original model on which something is patterned : ARCHETYPE
2 : an individual that exhibits the essential features of a later type
3 : a standard or typical example
4 : a first full-scale and usually functional form of a new type or design of a construction (as an airplane)

Prototypes are used to work out bugs in the production tooling, usually. They're also enormously expensive, because the many of the parts are hand built, and the economies of scale haven't yet kicked in. Therefore, companies do anything they can to avoid having to build very many, because they interrupt the whole build cycle and take resources away from suppliers. But there are limited production runs of them. For liability reasons they can't be sold. Most often the prototypes are missing key components whose tooling takes longer to complete, or the production tools are not yet building parts with good quality. One of the very last things to happen in tooling up interiors is what we call 'graining,' where the surfaces are roughened according to the chosen grain, once the molds are tweaked to get the desired shape and tolerances.

Car companies fight tooth and nail to shorten the production development time and get the vehicle on the road in as little time as they possibly can, because the theory is that long development times lead to high development costs. But it still takes a long, long time to plan, and prototypes take a simply amazing amount of coordination between the OEM's, production plants, suppliers, and sub-suppliers to complete.

Rayford Steele

Alfa Romeo T33

Aston Martin Bulldog

Audi Avus

Audi Le Mans quattro

Bizzarrini BZ-2001

BMW NAZCA M12 (Italdesign)

BMW NAZCA C2

Delfino Feroce (2000)

Design Performance Barramunda

Dome P-2

Dome Zero (1978)