Concept cars carry the industry's imagination of the future, and carmakers love to show them off — so what was worth seeing at the Shanghai Auto Show? (Photo-heavy warning

One impression: concept cars no longer look like they came straight out of a science-fiction novel — but they still don't feel quite real.

"For the National Exhibition and Convention Center, please use exits 4, 5, or 6."

Just after eight in the morning, at the exit gates of Xujingdong Station on Shanghai Metro Line 2, a volunteer in a yellow vest stood every 10 meters, repeating that line to the passing crowd. The wall behind them was papered with posters from a dozen car brands. Out of the station, following the flow of people, it took about 15 minutes on foot to reach the north plaza entrance of the National Exhibition and Convention Center.

The 2017 Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition was held here. It runs every two years; the first was in 1985. Together with the Beijing Auto Show — also biennial, but in even-numbered years — it is the grandest annual event in China's auto industry.

According to the organizing committee, this year's show covered more than 350,000 square meters, close to 90% of the Exhibition and Convention Center's indoor floor space. Inside the four-leaf-clover-shaped venue, car brands from 18 countries and regions displayed 1,400 vehicles, among them 113 world premieres, 44 Asian premieres, and 56 concept cars.

Say "concept car" and most people picture something avant-garde: sharp body lines, a low flat shell, 21-inch-plus wheels and wide tires, futurism dripping off every panel. In short, the kind of car you can pick out as a concept from across the hall.

But a concept car stands for what a carmaker thinks the automobile is heading toward — a form of imagination. It may never be built, or it may be nearly ready to build. Either way it is a show of a brand's strength, which is why manufacturers are so eager to roll them out.

At this year's Shanghai Auto Show, though, we found that not every concept car announces itself on sight. Sometimes you have to look for the word CONCEPT, painted on the body or hung at the front, to be sure. From the outside, many of them looked a lot like the ordinary new models being announced on the main stage — the ones headed for dealer showrooms in a few months.

Over two media days we walked all eight exhibition areas. Just about every weathervane of the auto industry was here.

First, the concept cars that don't look all that futuristic

Chevrolet FNR-X — Booth: Hall 1.1 / SAIC-GM Chevrolet

General Motors' Chevrolet brand brought the FNR-X SUV concept, making its world premiere here. The company calls it a full-function sport concept. The flat body and the thin LED light strips give the front end a design language close to the Malibu and Camaro already on sale. Chevrolet says the FNR-X will carry an intelligent hybrid all-wheel-drive system, an aerodynamic performance package, advanced driver-assistance systems, dynamic LED head- and taillights, and a smart center console — all of which already appear on plenty of high-end models on the market, such as the BMW 7 Series, the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, and the Audi A8.

Here is the FNR concept Chevrolet showed at the 2015 Shanghai Auto Show and the 2016 Guangzhou Auto Show:

Buick Velite — Booth: Hall 1.1 / SAIC-GM Buick

The Velite is a plug-in hybrid concept developed under the lead of Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center, SAIC-GM's R&D arm. It first appeared at the Guangzhou Auto Show last November. A chrome strip across the front grille runs into the headlights on both sides. The name comes from a four-seat convertible concept Buick showed in 2004.

At this year's show, the production model, the Velite 5, officially went on sale. It is priced at 265,800 to 295,800 yuan, with Buick offering a 36,000-yuan new-energy subsidy. It is Buick's first range-extended plug-in hybrid, with a pure-electric range of 116 kilometers and a combined range of more than 700 kilometers on one tank and one charge. Next to the concept, the production Velite's bodywork is far more restrained: it keeps the winged design at the badge, but the strip no longer runs into the headlights.

Cadillac Escala concept — Booth: Hall 1.1 / SAIC

This was the Cadillac Escala concept's first appearance in China. Cadillac positions it as a flagship. The concept's headlights use OLED units; whether production cars will keep them is anyone's guess.

SAIC Maxus D90, tracked version — Booth: Hall 1.1 / SAIC Maxus

The SAIC Maxus D90 concept was unveiled last year, and the production version was launched at this show. Apart from running on tracks instead of ordinary wheels, this D90 looks exactly like the production D90.

SAIC Maxus is not the only carmaker doing the tracked-vehicle novelty act. At the Chicago Auto Show last week, Nissan turned up with a modified Rogue concept fitted with tracks.

SAIC Roewe Vision-E Concept — Booth: Hall 1.1 / SAIC Roewe

Roewe revealed the Vision-E SUV concept the day before the show opened. It is longer and wider than the RX5, Roewe's current production SUV. The front end keeps the family inverted-trapezoid grille while adding large, exaggerated sheets of metal. Roewe says it is a pure-electric SUV that supports wireless charging, with a range over 500 kilometers and a 0-to-100-km/h time of 4 seconds.

But it is still a design at the concept stage, so hear those numbers and let them go.

Hongqi U-Concept — Booth: Hall 2.1 / China FAW

Even on a concept car this youthful, Hongqi did not forget the red standing emblem on the nose. As on its current production cars, the U-Concept's grille uses a waterfall-style inverted trapezoid, with the LED headlights on either side blending into the trapezoid's top edge. The spoiler on the front bumper is carbon fiber.

Lincoln Navigator concept — Booth: Hall 6.1 / Lincoln

At Lincoln's 20-minute new-car press conference, executives gave half the time to this Navigator concept. In the first quarter of this year, Lincoln's luxury models sold 400% more in China than a year earlier — though that rate owes a lot to a low starting point, since the brand has been in China only three years. The new Navigator concept Lincoln has pinned its hopes on is a large six-seat SUV more than 5.2 meters long and over two tons in weight, with gull-wing doors. When the doors swing up, a retractable metal step drops down on that side so the driver and passengers can step out.

Infiniti QX50 concept — Booth: Hall 6.1 / Infiniti

Next to the other concepts at the show, the Infiniti QX50 concept is very close to a production design. Its grille and the body lines at the C-pillar behind the rear doors resemble production cars like the Q50 and QX60. The car's whole line work is drawn from the QX Sport Inspiration concept.

Bentley EXP 10 concept — Booth: Hall 8.1 / Bentley

The EXP 10 Speed 6 had its world premiere at the 2015 Geneva International Motor Show. At this Shanghai show, Bentley brought the convertible. Wolfgang Dürheimer, chairman and chief executive of Bentley Motors, said the EXP 10 Speed 6 could become a whole new product line for Bentley, much as the Bentley GT opened up the two-door super-luxury segment years ago.

Jaguar I-PACE concept — Booth: Hall 6.1

The I-PACE is positioned as Jaguar's first electric car and goes on sale in the second half of 2018. Its nose resembles those of the XE and XF sedans from the same family — what people call a family face. The I-PACE is built on the eDM (electric Drive Module) platform Jaguar introduced earlier. Like Tesla's cars, the I-PACE has flush door handles, bringing the drag coefficient down to 0.29 — still a little behind the Model X's 0.24.

BMW X2 concept — Booth: Hall 7.1 / BMW

Another concept you cannot pick out at a glance. The BMW X2 concept made its China debut here. It is designed on BMW's UKL front-wheel-drive platform and positioned as a coupe-SUV; the production version may go on sale overseas first, in early 2018. On power, the future production X2 is expected to share a drivetrain with the X1, with gasoline versions using 1.5T and 2.0T engines.

If anything, the i8 — in production for several years now — still looks more like a concept car:

Audi RS7 autonomous concept — Booth: Hall 5.1 / FAW-Volkswagen, Audi

Audi showed this lidar-equipped autonomous RS7 last year at the A4L's domestic launch event in Shanghai. Because the RS7 is already a mature production car, the autonomous concept changes little on the outside. The one real difference: where the roof meets the rear window, the concept carries a radar unit about the size of a shot put, standing roughly 10 centimeters proud of the bodywork.

Mercedes-Benz A-Class concept — Booth: Hall 4.1

Next to the concept BAIC had parked at the booth opposite, the Mercedes-Benz A-Class concept looks fairly "plain." A huge Mercedes star sits at the center of the vertical-slat grille — as a rule, Mercedes puts the big round badge on the nose of its sportier models rather than the upright ornament on the hood. Mercedes says the A-Class concept is expected to share the MFA2 platform with the next A-Class. On power, it takes either a 1.5T diesel or a 1.6T gasoline engine.

Volkswagen PanAmericana concept — Booth: Hall 5.1 / Volkswagen

The PanAmericana is built on the Volkswagen Multivan, with a new look inside and out. A red line runs the length of the body. The center console's shape and equipment stay much the same as the current standard Multivan's. For the static display, Volkswagen left a single seat in the back row and laid a new aluminum-alloy rail system across the rest of the space, which can carry a Ducati motorcycle.

And these concept cars are pure fantasy

Unlike the near-production concepts above, most of the following are only mock-ups: no production plans for at least three to five years, and even if they are built, they will look quite different from what is standing on the show floor.

QIANTU — model unknown

Singulato — Booth: Hall 6.1 / Singulato

Honda NeuV — Booth: Hall 8.2 / Honda

Langshi New Energy concept

Volkswagen I.D. concept — Booth: Hall 5.1 / Volkswagen

Audi e-tron concept — Booth: Hall 5.1 / FAW-Volkswagen, Audi

Škoda Vision E — Booth: Hall 5.1 / SAIC Škoda

Haval HB-03 hybrid concept — Booth: Hall 5.1 / Haval

Hyundai GV80 concept — Booth: Hall 4.1 / Hyundai and Beijing Hyundai

BAIC New Energy Arcfox — Booth: Hall 4.1 / Hyundai and Beijing Hyundai

Harman demo vehicle — Booth: Hall 8.1 / Harman

Icona Vulcano Titanium — Booth: Hall 8.1 / Icona

Changan Automobile — Booth: Hall 5.1 / Changan Oshan

Toyota Fengchao concept series — Booth: Hall 8.2 / Toyota

Changan Automobile RAETON CC — Booth: Hall 8.2 / Changan Automobile

Mengshi Technology Daile Pioneer — Booth: Hall 8.1 / Mengshi Technology

JMC Yusheng concept — Booth: Hall 7.1 / JMC Yusheng

MG E-Motion concept series — Booth: Hall 1.1 / SAIC MG

Yudo Xπ concept — Booth: Hall 6.1 / Yudo

One More Thing...

Trucks go wild too.

At the JAC Heavy Truck booth we found this cab with all its "muscle" showing. Staff there said it is an early concept and prototype, with essentially no plan to build it for the civilian market — it is meant for truck racing in Europe and the United States. (Booth in Hall 2.1)

Finally, some small advice for visiting. Getting there: take Metro Line 2 to Xujingdong Station, then follow the signs to exit 5 and up to street level, where a ticket booth stands right behind you. Food: the Exhibition and Convention Center plaza holds plenty of chain restaurants, but even on the thinly attended media days the lunchtime lines were bad, so anyone going on a public day should eat off-peak. Finding your way: "x.1" means the first floor of Hall x and "x.2" the second floor; if you have questions, ask the security staff inside the halls or the volunteer information booths set up in the open ground between halls.

Unless otherwise noted, the cover image and all photos in this article were taken by the author.