Straightline

Here's another reason to love the French. They are the Japanese of Europe. By this we mean only that the car companies of both countries seem to understand what a concept car should be.

Production cars with big wheels, fancy paint and side mirrors that have been replaced by mini cameras are not concepts. But the French, they get it. A concept should surprise and delight and confound. It should be a canvas for  ultimate creative freedom. It should fly, or fold into a suitcase or be edible.

Allow us to present the Citroen C-Cactus which can do none of these things but is oddly cool. Citroen says it's "an ecological car." But that doesn't actually make sense. Whatever, check out the stubby little amoeba. It's button-cute. It rides on 21-inch wheels with ribbed faces. Citroen says that "the dashboard has gone," but it does not mention where. Without it though, the driver faces a steering wheel with hub-mounted controls for basically everything he might want to control and a curved firewall. It would be like driving a bath tub that's equipped with a steering wheel. And the seatbacks, steering wheel rim, door panels and taillight have little cutouts of butterflies and plant stalks. Plus, its name is almost as good as the Daihatsu D-Bone of several years ago.

It would be powered by a diesel hybrid powertrain and many of the body panels would be biodegradable were it to ever make it to production, which it won't.

But if Woody Allen ever produces a remake of Sleeper this is the car he should use. -- Daniel Pund, Senior Editor, Detroit Inside Line