A Mechanical Symphony

Autoblog's Top 10 Concept Cars of 2010 (Autoblog)

by Steven J. Ewing (RSS feed) on Dec 29th 2010 at 11:59AM

Autoblog's Top 10 Concept Cars of 2010 – Click above to read the list

Just under 70 concept cars were rolled out by automakers from around the globe at this year's major auto shows. These swoopy, futuristic showstoppers usually preview what's to come in terms of new designs and technology, and in some cases, concept cars directly foreshadow full-on production models that aren't too far down the pipeline.

We've scanned back through our full raft of concept car coverage over the past year to pick these examples, our ten best concept car and truck reveals from 2010, ranked in order as judged by our staff. See what we were most eager to point our cameras at after the jump, then sound off with your own favorites (or take us to task for ours) in Comments.

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10. Jeep Nukizer Concept

Jeep Nukizer Concept – Click above for high-res image gallery

While most of our favorite concept vehicles from 2010 fall firmly into the on-road end of the automotive spectrum, there's surely a little room for something a little more... ready to rumble. Meet the Jeep Nukizer. Designed as an homage to the legendary Kaiser M-715, this beastie makes use of a J8 two-door body and an aftermarket AEV Brute pickup bed. Chrysler's engineers built that leaning front nose out of carbon fiber and stretched the frame to 124 inches to make a little more room for the new bodywork. It only gets better when we start talking drivetrain. For its beating heart, the Nukizer 715 uses a 2.8-liter turbo-diesel four-cylinder mated to a four-speed slusher. A Dana 44 axle sits up front, backed up by a Dana 60 in the rear, both with 5:38 gear ratios. Jeep: Please build us a pickup.