The best car renderings of 2016

In Car World, news tends to ebb and flow around the motor show circus that punctuates the year. In between, actual car news can get a bit thin on the ground.

Luckily, we have one reliable source that keeps Car World spinning during the lull: speculative renders.

You see, digital scribblers of the Internet like to take fresh metal from motor shows and render what potential future/hot/dystopian or downright outlandish versions might look like.

So, in honour of such efforts, we’ve trawled through the archives and rounded up the best from our favourite Photoshop wizards.

Gone are the days of kids using potato shapes as paintbrushes to make art. Nowadays, the full array of crayons, pencils and spray cans needed to make a masterpiece worthy of the kitchen fridge have been digitised in Photoshop.

Just look at Yasid Oozeear’s amazing creations above to see what we’re on about.

Like previously featured Photoshop doyen, Khyzyl Saleem, Yasid merges motorsport with an apocalyptic future that makes for Armageddon-spec supercars/race cars and er, Tyrell F1-car racing pick-up trucks.

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As you’ve probably deduced, the zombie-proof Chiron above isn't real. Sure, it’s had its performance blunted slightly by all that pesky apocalypse-survival stuff, but it’s still the fastest vehicle on an incredible list apocalypse-spec motoring suitable for the end of all things. Check the rest of them out here. 

The last time Mercedes raced at Le Mans, it ended with one of its CLR-GT1 race cars upside down in the local scenery having somersaulted backwards three times 50ft in the air. It hasn’t returned since. 

But what would happen if Merc did go back to Le Mans? Say, in… 2030? We have a potential answer: a radical shape-shifting LMP1 car that’s powered by air, made of graphene and can 3D print its own tyres. 

It’s called the Mercedes-Benz DTW. A potty fantastical concoction from the mind of digital pensmith Martin Chatelier, a design student from Sevres, France. 

Check it out here. 

F1 fans have had plenty to complain about in recent years: the unappealing noise, fuel saving, the fact that one team wins most of the time… the usual stuff.

Another issue has been aesthetics. Lots of people feel that the strict rules make the cars too similar in appearance, while others have been left disappointed by some uninspiring liveries this season. We’re looking at you, McLaren.

Step forward Tim Holmes; motorsport web developer and livery designer extraordinaire. For many months, Tim has been lining his Twitter feed with all kinds of interesting concepts, which includes a colourful range of F1 cars.

We’ve rounded up our favourites, so let us know what you think in the comments section below. Reckon he’d give Adrian Newey - who has somehow managed to slot in time to build an Aston Martin/Red Bull hypercar - a run for his money?

Here's a question for you Touring Car fans: what would some of the best colour schemes from eras gone by look like on modern day cars?

Cue some extensive rendering, and the following gallery of artwork…

We’re not entirely sure what the person behind these crazy mashup renders is on, but it’s safe to say the results are interesting.

As you can see here, it’s a collection of cars that should not be bedfellows but have somehow become bedfellows. Probably the result of a couple of drinks, no doubt.

From Ariel Nomad Bugatti Chirons to Hellcat Renegades, there are some truly perplexing but quite odd pairings that somehow just seem to work.

But which one would you like to see made?

Look back into rallying’s history books and you’ll see all sorts of wild and wonderful competitors, the Lancia Stratos perhaps the wildest and most wonderful of the lot.

Nowadays, it’s all Fiestas, Polos and DS3s. Great rally cars no doubt, but where’s the variety?

That seems to be the thinking behind this gaggle of wonderful, daydream-inducing renders by Car Wow, which mate modern day sports cars to classic motorsport liveries and body kits.

Check them out here. 

If we’re to believe 1960s futurists, by 2040 we will live in a world where our post is delivered by jetpack mailmen, consume three-course meals via a pill and holiday in space hotels. But what would we drive? Well, if the Sixties are to be believed: flying solar-powered autonomous cars. Even now, that seems a bit far-fetched.

So South Korean designer Minwoong Im has looked into his crystal ball to come up with 2017’s vision of a car from 2040. And it just so happens to be a Mercedes.

It’s a retrofuturistic streamliner influenced by Merc’s 1955 W196R, a car that was influenced by WWII fighter jets. The 2040 Streamliner blends old-fashioned styles with futuristic technology thanks to the flowing, shrink-wrapped 50s lines with a suitably ahead of its time, dual jet-powered engines. 

Check it out here.