The vision in Ford's crystal ball was sharp when it presented the Adrenalin concept vehicle at the Los Angeles Auto Show in January of 1996. The Adrenalin was the first prototype for the hybrid pickup/SUV genre-a new style pickup truck built with the full cabin of an SUV. The SUV, in turn, had been built on the platform of the old style pickup truck. This new invention in the vehicle world had not come full circle so much as around a tight S curve.
That's the purpose of concept vehicles: to toss out an idea and see if it floats into the reality of the future. When it does, the carmaker looks like it had seen it coming all along. And it has a jump on the market.