Deficiencies of applying the simple genetic algorithm to generate concepts were specified. Based on analyzing conceptual design and the morphological matrix of an excavator, the hybrid optimization model of generating its concepts was proposed, viz. an improved adaptive genetic algorithm was applied to explore the excavator concepts in the searching space of conceptual design, and a neural network was used to evaluate the fitness of the population. The optimization of generating concepts was finished through the evolution - evaluation iteration. The results show that by using the hybrid optimization model, not only the fitness evaluation and constraint conditions are well processed, but also the search precision and convergence speed of the optimization process are greatly improved. An example is presented to demonstrate the advantages of the proposed method and associated algorithms.