Honda's FC Sport fuel-cell hybrid debuts in a puff of conceptual smoke
By Thomas Ricker 
posted Nov 20th 2008 3:57AM
posted Nov 20th 2008 3:57AM
"You know how you see a show car, and it's really cool, and then four years later you see the production car, and it sucks? And you go, What happened? They had it! They had it in the palm of their hands! They grabbed defeat from the jaws of victory! What happened was, the designers came up with this really great idea. Then they take it to the engineers, and the engineers go, 'Nah, we can't do that. That's impossible.' And so it gets a lot worse. Then they take it to the manufacturing people, and they go, 'We can't build that!' And it gets a lot worse."Or to paraphrase: It's like asking for a Big Mac and getting a fish sandwich.
Read -- Parable of the Concept Car
Read -- FC Sport
Looks stupid
I concur.
CARS WILL NEVER LOOK LIKE THIS!!!!!!
Despite what Marty saw, 2015 is approaching, and we're (thank god) a long ways away from these designs. I'd rather they work on making my cars fly than making them look so sleek or something.
wtf are you talking about? Marty DROVE a DeLorean DMC-12. Those sexy beasts EXISTED and looked more futuristic than this wanna-be euro trash.
First Honda are Japanese secondly the delorean was designed and built Ireland.
You= dumbass
Pilock
When someone puts the words "wanna-be" in a sentence, it usually implies that the referred object isn't actually the object that it would like to be. Also, when the term euro-trash is used in reference to vehicles, it usually implies Ferrari's and Lamborghini's. ( Yes I used to think they were "cool" too but then I moved to LA and saw the true meaning of euro trash and they do indeed drive said vehicles) I'm simply saying that in my opinion, aside from the terrible terrible front end, the rest of this car looks like a sad Lamborghini.
Also... I don't think that the DeLorian "built Ireland"... but I'll be sure to google that.
sir.
People who say cars will never look like this.
Pfft, have you seen the new Lamborghini?
Look like a Hotwheels.
Don't you dare speak that way about Marty! You're not even half the man he was.
The elegance of a McLaren F1 combined with the sleekness of a caveman's forehead.
The Honda FC: a revolution in automobile hideousness.
No...just no.
like rynth, i was gonna say, not too much different from a lambo:
http://www.lamborghiniphotos.info/photos/Lamborghini-Murcielago-012.jpg
"Or to paraphrase: It's like asking for a Big Mac and getting a fish sandwich."
How dare you! I love that fish sandwich...but I get the point. It is funny how want goes to meh when it hits the street.
I don't know why but I'm expecting the car to say "Honda TRANSFORM!"
I'm expecting to sing The Thong Song.
Storm Troopers need cars too!
Hopefully they drive better than they shoot.
iEye, if you have turned over a new leaf, and promise never to post about Apple again, you are quite witty. Keep up the good work.
Looks like something Samus from Metroid Prime would drive when not flying... Anyone else see the triangular shape that resembles the helmet?
They already have one.
http://sentinelguild.com/nzo/Images/b71f8e80.jpg
no they dont...thats stupid! y r u scared to post about apple?
I think the overall body design looks hot...but the front end looks like a confused Chinaman staring into the distance
I'd say it needs work but i guess if it goes, it goes !
Dude, "chinaman" is not the preferred nomenclature.
Yeah, it's Jap
Forget it, 7on, you're out of your element.
This looks like something straight out of Back to the Future 2. (or any number of 80s-early 90s science fictions)
I kind of like it, actually.
Y'all are blind.
Autobots, transform!
Sexxxxyyy! Put it on my tab. ;-0
the cars is ok, the front is ugly though... I don't even think that's debatable...
the reason why cars look good is because people don't realize that they're not going to get 325 width rubber on a 23 inch rim with the body sitting 2" off the ground on their civic. Of course, designers will put them on their demo cars; and at the same time, of course, what you're going to get is a regular 15" rim with 185's that'll be jacked up for roadability. I've had this comparison on many cars (demo vs production), and it's ALWAYS the wheels and the height. But honestly, take any car and slam it and it'll look "good". It's not a complicated formula.
That's part of it, sure, but it goes far beyond that. You act like the only difference between what we see in the demo and production are the rims and how high it sits off the ground. Take a look at what happened to the Chevy Volt. The demo looked similar to this car with bold lines and agressive styling, but the production vehicle looks like a bastard child of Chevy and Acura. A lot more than the rims changed.
Fuck the rims!!!!!!
I think it looks great? nice design
is it me or are they going for a similar look to the audi that was used in that futuristic film I Robot?
So, how'd you come up with the design, Jim?
I had a dream that I crashed my car headon into a wall.
looks like the ford GT90 concept
Why'd they make it all sleek, and then put a lorry front on it? Nothing like a car with a brick wall on the front to cut through the air.
I don't get fuel cell...
-Expensive
-Energy inefficient (hydrogen has to come from somewhere... oh thank you shell)
-Infrastructure
just put a damn battery in the thing and give me the option to throw a small generator in the thing if I ever needed it..
Yer like theres an infrastructure for electric cars. Everybody gonna run a cable from there house to there car without some body coming along and ripping out the cable in the middle of the night. Hydrogen is the future.
infrastructure:
not only is honda making hydrogen cars, it's also working on the infrastructure issue. it's not the final answer, but it's a great start.
http://automobiles.honda.com/fcx-clarity/home-energy-station.aspx
@psfour:
Really? No electric infrastructure? At all?
Shit, what's my power bill for then...
Home hydrogen generator..
Where are you gonna get your volts and amps from.. The same power grid as an electric car.
Its just adding another 20% of wasted power.
but if you think its a good idea... than you also think translating this post to german and back to english is the proper way to read a post.
I still dont see why hydrogen is better than just straight electrons.
You can refuel pretty quickly? You can already get a full charge in some electric cars in 10 minutes @ 400volts
I dont mind pulling into a station along the freeway... sitting for 10 minutes as they show me commericals which in itself pays nearly pays for the power im using.
Ad supported transportation :)
Looks neat. More MASK than Transformers I'd say. Too bad this will suffer from a weight problem due to all the bass speakers needed to give it a sound that corresponds well with the look.
When did we go from being Americans to American'ts?
December 2nd 1981
... Britney Spears birthday...
"You know how you see a show car, and it's really cool, and then four years later you see the production car, and it sucks? And you go, What happened? They had it! They had it in the palm of their hands! They grabbed defeat from the jaws of victory! What happened was, the designers came up with this really great idea. Then they take it to the engineers, and the engineers go, 'Nah, we can't do that. That's impossible.' And so it gets a lot worse. Then they take it to the manufacturing people, and they go, 'We can't build that!' And it gets a lot worse."
"splains the Volt.
To low to be practical. You would smash the bumpera at the first speed bump. But yet again its a concept car so wont even be made.
I'm not saying it looks bad, it just looks...backwards?
What happened was, the designers came up with this really great idea. Then they take it to the engineers, and the engineers go, 'Nah, we can't do that. That's impossible.' And so it gets a lot worse. Then they take it to the manufacturing people, and they go, 'We can't build that!' ......
.....and then they take it to the accountants, and the accountants say "You want HOW much to build WHAT?! HELL NO!"
Even *IF* the accountants gave the engineers and manufacturers enough money to build it, the 'health and safety' people would just muck it up in the end.
Talk about stealing the design from the Splinter (http://www.joeharmondesign.com/).
looks like star wars' clone/star trooper mobile.. looks good though.
Looks like a real sports car that got punched in the nose.
Uuugggly.
Door handles?
Where we're going we don't need door handles.
"As a wise man of consumer electronics once said"
You mean Steve Jobs, referring to why other companies rarely produce things that are truly innovative?
I like fish sandwiches =(
I'm not as concerned about the design/shape as the idea of having better fuel sipping vehicles or alternative fuel vehicles. I have an 8 year old acura - still runs well, has great acceleration but has a few dings and the GPS unit is aged and the radio sucks. The thing that bugs me about my car is the absurdly bad gas mileage it gets though. I would have definitely considered another acura but I was stunned to find out the brand new version - 2 generations newer and it gets the same crappy mpg! It has more horse power which will come in handy if I'm racing it in a country with no speed limits but as it is I'm always the fastest vehicle on the highway, not sure where these people who needed more HP for the TL live.
I think Honda is really taking too long to go where Toyota is going which is a shame as I loved my Honda Civic I bought 18 years ago and I really liked my TL but I'll probably end up with a Toyota product next.
Oh no! The Cylons have infiltrated Honda.
Damn, you beat me to it. Cylon autobots, assemble!
Its the PANTY MOBILE!
I love the look of this concept. This is how I'd like my next Honda (or whatever brand of car) to look.
I wish car manufacturers would quit teasing us with concepts that we really like, only to (without fail) set aside what we really want and put out some stupid, boring, run-of-the-mill version that looks like every other lame, uninspiring car on the road.
So when will these idiots get their heads out of their butts and offer us what we want?!?
Crikey, if they sold that car above, they wouldn't be able to keep them on the showroom floor.
----------
Dear Honda,
Here's a "wink, wink, nudge, nudge" suggestion for you (and any other auto manufacturer that can get a clue): See that photo of the Honda body above? BUILD THAT. DON'T CHANGE ANYTHING. JUST BUILD WHAT YOU HAVE THERE IN THE PHOTO, AND SELL IT. Thanks.
Oh yeah, and one other thing: NO front and center seating. That's stupid. Put two seats in the front like every other normal car in the universe. Thanks again.
And for the engineers that whine, "We can't do that!" Here's what you tell them: "We've sent robots to Mars, so what's your excuse? Make it happen or find another job." After all, they ARE engineers. Their job is to find a way and make it work. That's what engineers are PAID to DO.
Sincerely,
Everyone who wants the car shown above and are tired of being teased by concepts only to receive uninspired designs
I love the angle on the car in the photo above - and it's deceiving, because after looking at the other site, the butt of the car needs to change. From a pure side view, the tail end needs to be shortened... a lot - it looks totally stupid as is. But everything else looks great.
But if water vapor is I believe something on the order of 2,000 times more effective at trapping atmospheric heat than CO2, won't changing over all cars to fuel cells (that emit water vapor) dramatically affect global warming?
have you guy's seen this thing from the backside, it needs to die. It's like walking up behind a woman and saying "Hey sweEEEET, HOLY MOTHER OF..." but in reverse.
no edit button
http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2008/11/post-1.html