Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Cars
  3. Guides
  4. Products

The best concept cars of CES 2020: Audi, Sony, Mercedes, and more

Nick Mokey
By

This story is part of our continuing coverage of CES 2020, including tech and gadgets from the showroom floor.

Recommended Videos

Concept cars have been a car show staple since the 1950s, when the visionaries of the day were showing off bubbletops and Batmobiles. So it only makes sense that now that CES is pretty much a car show, concepts are popping up everywhere here too. And not just ordinary concepts with big wheels and angular bodywork. Something about the glitz of Vegas and the possibilities of technology seems to send car designers off the deep end, and we’ve seen some wild stuff. From an Avatar-inspired ride to the first car ever from Sony, here are the car stars of CES 2020.

Related
<strong>Top Tech of CES 2020: Editors' Pick</strong>
The products in this article were selected by our editors as standouts in the concept cars category at CES 2020. Check out our Top Tech of CES Awards, which award our favorite products in over ten categories, to see all the hottest gear.
best tech ces 2020 digital trends editors pick
CES 2020

(And for cars you actually have a shot of driving someday, check out our list of the best cars of CES 2020!)

Audi AI:ME

Audi AI:ME concept car CES 2020
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Audi reliably brings some high-brow concepts to CES every year, and 2020 brought us the AI:ME, a car inspired by the possibilities of level 4 autonomy. That means a steering wheel is required, but not necessary most of the time. To fill your time, Audi built an infotainment system with gaze detection, so you can choose your music station (or even a doughnut) by staring out the window.

Sony Vision S

Sony Vision S
Mario Tama/Getty Images

No one expected Sony to pull a car out of its hat at CES, which made the Vision S concept all the more delightful. Designed to show off the parts that Sony can supply to carmakers, it’s studded with no fewer than 33 sensors, from cameras to lidar. The snow-white interior features a distinctively Sony design, with a screen that sweeps across the entire dash, plus screens on every seatback and 360-degree audio.

Mercedes Vision AVTR

Mercedes-Benz Vision AVTR concept CES 2020
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Why did Mercedes partner with James Cameron to build a concept based on his film Avatar? It’s unclear, but that didn’t diminish our enjoyment of the Vision AVTR, a wildly curvaceous pebble of a car that you would be hard-pressed to find a single flat surface on. Mercedes says it’s built of recyclable, eco-friendly materials, right down to a graphene battery that can be composted. The Na’vi would be proud.

Honda Augmented Driving Concept

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Every carmaker sees autonomous driving in the future, but Honda doesn’t think you want to give up total control. Its quirky Augmented Driving Concept allows passengers to be shuttled around autonomously, but still react to the environment around them. For instance, a demo showed the car pulling over for a oceanside photo op with the wave of a hand, or slowing down to chat with a bicyclist.

FCA Airflow

FCA Airflow Concept Car CES 2020
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Plug-in Jeeps were a nice touch at CES 2020, but the Airflow concept is what really got people talking. It boasts an extremely aerodynamic profile, with massive doors and four screens upfront for both controls and entertainment. Putting only four seats in a minivan-sized footprint makes the inside feel downright lounge-like.

Follow our live blog for more CES news and announcements.

Editors' Recommendations

Nick Mokey
Nick Mokey
Managing Editor
As Digital Trends’ Managing Editor, Nick Mokey oversees an editorial team delivering definitive reviews, enlightening…
We need more 7-passenger EVs, but the 2023 Mercedes EQS SUV has room to improve
Front three quarter view of the 2023 Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV.

Mercedes-Benz is continuing to expand its EV lineup, this time with a model aimed at (wealthy) families.
As the name states, the 2023 Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV is an SUV derivative of the EQS sedan. With the EQS sedan positioned as the electric analog to the Mercedes S-Class, the EQS SUV is the electric version of the GLS-Class. And like that vehicle, the EQS SUV is available with up to seven seats across three rows.
That makes the EQS SUV an important vehicle not just for Mercedes, but for the cause of EV adoption in general. While the Tesla Model X and Rivian R1S also offer three rows for family-hauling duty, there’s a lot more room in the market for another entry. Given the popularity of equivalent gasoline luxury SUVs like the GLS, Land Rover Range Rover, and Cadillac Escalade, the EQS SUV arrives not a moment too soon.
The EQS SUV is scheduled to reach U.S. dealerships this fall in three guises. The base rear-wheel-drive EQS 450+ starts at $105,550 with destination, while the all-wheel drive EQS 450 4Matic and EQS 580 4Matic start at $108,550 and $127,100, respectively. Although it will be built in Alabama, the EQS SUV won’t qualify for the revised federal EV tax credit because it exceeds the $80,000 price cap for SUVs.

Design and interior
A defining feature of Mercedes’ EQ lineup is aerodynamic bodywork aimed at maximizing range. The typical SUV is not aerodynamically ideal, but Mercedes managed to achieve an impressively low drag coefficient for an SUV — at 0.26, it’s close to the Toyota Prius. But function clearly took precedence over form. Mercedes deserves credit for not going in the polarizing direction BMW did with its two-row iX SUV, but the EQS SUV looks like a melting scoop of ice cream.
More disappointing is the third row, which should be the EQS SUV’s defining feature, but seems more like a useless afterthought. Adults will find it difficult to insert themselves into the third-row seats, let alone tolerate riding in them. As in most three-row vehicles, the rear seats also pretty much eliminate cargo space. And if you want to fold them down to create more cargo room, you’ll have to do it manually as Mercedes didn’t include a power-folding system — a bit disappointing for a six-figure car. The EQS SUV also lacks a frunk; like the EQS sedan, the hood is sealed.
The EQS SUV looks like a melting scoop of ice cream.

Read more
BMW shows off an electric car with color-changing paint at CES 2022
A color-changing BMW iX electric SUV.

From engine sounds to seat massagers, modern cars let drivers personalize almost everything. At CES 2022, BMW is taking that idea a step further with a concept version of its iX electric SUV that sports color-changing paint.

The effect relies on E Ink, the same electronic paper technology used in e-readers. Millions of microcapsules approximately the diameter of a human hair are embedded in an exterior wrap made from laser-cut electronic paper segments, according to BMW. They contain negatively charged white pigments and positively charged black pigments. Activating an electric field causes different amounts of each pigment to collect on the surface, shifting the color between black, white, and gray with the press of a button.

Read more
Chrysler Airflow concept is a sleek, screen-filled EV
Exterior view of the Chrysler Airflow concept.

At CES 2022, Stellantis unveiled the Chrysler Airflow concept, an electric SUV previewing the brand’s first production electric model, due in 2025. Stellantis also confirmed that the Chrysler brand will go all-electric by 2028.

Taking its name from the revolutionary 1934 Chrysler Airflow, which introduced aerodynamic design to the auto industry, the Airflow concept combines the tall ride height of an SUV with a sleek profile and long wheelbase. Balancing aerodynamics with the SUV packaging buyers prefer, it’s a similar styling approach to current production EVs like the Ford Mustang Mach-E, Volkswagen ID.4, and Tesla Model Y.

Read more