2011 L.A. Design Challenge presents Hollywood's future car concepts

It may have been just a play on words that summed up Marty McFly and Doc Brown’s situation in the Back To The Future trilogy, but ‘Outatime’ turned out to be much more than that for an entire generation. The eight letter word made up the license plate of one of the most iconic Hollywood cars of all time – the DeLorean DMC-12. The sleek silver car designed with typically ‘futuristic for the 80s’ lines has since then caught the fantasies of many designers and the race to be able to give the world another icon is always on.

That is precisely what the 2011 LA Auto Show Design Challenge (now running for eight years) expected from its German, Japanese and American participants and what they got was some very innovative and wild concepts. Judged by industry big wigs like Tom Matano, Mark West, Stewart Reed and Jay Shuster, participants had to not only design Hollywood’s car for the future, but also present it with a movie theme. Entries which best adhered to and reflected their respective manufacturer’s core values while bringing in the whackiest of ideas and creativity would score the highest. Click on the titles below to check out detailed imagery of the six creative and highly innovative concepts that were the final contenders at the show.

Smart 341 Parkour *: Parkour in itself is more an art form than just physical activity. But combining it with vehicle design turned out to be the whackiest idea at the Design Challenge and that’s exactly what the guys from Mercedes-Benz Advanced Design Germany ended up doing with the Smart 341 Parkour. Designed by Sylvain Wehnert, Emiel Burki, Phillipp Haban Mercedes-Benz Advanced Design, Germany.

Honda IH *:  Forget Cowboys and Aliens, the quintessential Western set in the future according to the blokes at Honda Research and Development is going to be High Noon. It’s the end of the world after a gigantic comet has crashed on Earth wiping out all the infrastructure and technology known to mankind and whatever remains of the scientific fraternity comes together to envision a vehicle that will be our companion and protector in an inhospitable environment. Designed by Wojtek Bachleda, Taryn Dyle, Raj Rihal Honda Research and Development Americas, Inc.

Subaru HORIZON *: Built to thrive in a post-apolocalyptic world, the Subaru Horizon with its on-off road tyres is protected by the car’s enveloping body and a sleek, sporty exterior design, and looks every bit the part of a future-proof rally car. Put together at the Subaru Design Studio in Tokyo, the HORIZON is the genius of designers Takashi Hagino, Yoshifumi Tomita, Yoshiaki Sakaguchi, Tomoyuki Kato, Yohei Noshiro, Masashi Kaneda, Takamitsu Watanabe.

Note : * CLICK on the Concept titles to view complete slideshows of the same

Mercedes-Benz Silver Arrow *: Artificial Intelligence is probably one of those sci-fi elements that have kept humanity both intrigued and alarmed at the same time. Mercedes-Benz’ North American design team gave a whole new automotive twist to the subject when they came up with the concept behind Silver Lightning which has two ‘enlightened’ crash test dummies Hans05 and Franz02. The movie is set around the crash testing of Mercedes-Benz’ newest car – the Silver Arrow inspired by the W125 series race car of the 1930s and the Uhlenhaut SLR from the 50s. Designed by Hubert Lee, Jackson Luttig, Yasu Sato, Alan Barrington Mercedes-Benz Advanced Design Centre, California.

Maybach Berline *: Mercedes’ third team in the event chose the oldest fairytale in the book as their movie concept and chose instead to concentrate on the vehicle itself. While Cinderella is set in the future and Cindy’s father is a Maybach Berline Carriage Engineer, the rest of the plot remains the same – one step mother, an annoying step sister, a night out on the town and a handsome stranger, designed by Christopher Ottersbach, Philipp Haban, Jan Kaul Mercedes Interior Design Studio, Germany.

Hyundai Stratus Sprinter *:  Hyundai’s design team from North America stuck to rather conventional science fiction for the plot of their Hollywood fantasy with Countess Elena, a soviet spy born to Vampire parents who silently rages her war against Communism. Now this is one tough girl and considering that she’s born in 1829 and is still alive in 2011, has super human senses and unique abilities to travel undetected after dark. Needless to say, the Countess needs a transportation solution as unique as her immortal self and that’s exactly what designers, Tony Chen, Woo Tak Kim Hyundai Design North America has for her in the Stratus Sprinter and the DB Atlant.

Note : * CLICK on the Concept titles to view complete slideshows of the same