General Motors Puts Foreign Designers in the Front Seat

April 3, 2007 — -- When you think of America, you probably think of BIG -- big portions, big waistlines, and … big vehicles. General Motors has given us some of the biggest cars around, like the Hummer, the Tahoe, the Chevy truck and the Suburban. But tomorrow morning, America's largest car manufacturer will unveil its newest design vision for the future -- and it's not large at all.

At the New York Auto Show, General Motors will reveal three concept cars … triplets. They aren't identical, nor are they for sale, but they do represent a creative example of how one American car company is thinking about design. It's also a way of sharing what GM wants you to think about. GM wants you to think small.

'Micro SUV'

"I think American, and [I think] big," said Ed Welburn, vice president of GM's global design organization. "Big has been very much a part of America. The highways are wide, the parking lots are quite large, but the interest level is there for a smaller car."

The triplet sizes are similar to those driven for years in places like Europe and Asia. One of the them is called the Chevrolet Trax, a "micro SUV" that combines a sporty look with a smaller frame.

"I think it is time," said Welburn, "especially as people are looking for a … unique offering, to be a very creative, or to at least look at a very creative offering in the small car category."

However, when the time came to conceptualize smaller vehicles, the company that created some iconic American vehicles headed overseas for fresh ideas.

"[It's] a designing team that's in Korea. They understand that market much better than I do," said Welbourne.

"In North America," Welburn continued, "the team has a real understanding of full-size trucks, midsize trucks, sport utilities. …" When it comes to doing small cars, the team in Korea, the team in Germany, the team in Brazil, they all have a really good understanding of doing that size vehicle. [The] team in Korea was the right one to take on this assignment."

Renaissance for GM?

One of the concept cars was assembled in India, while at the same time clay models for the other two were constructed at the GM Design Center in Michigan.

"For the triplet, what we basically did was leverage the knowledge that we can get on small cars, in countries and markets where small cars are very essential," said Anna Asensio, the executive director of advanced design. "I've always thought that for a designer the right place to be is in a company that believes in design for its renaissance."

With foreign automakers taking bigger and bigger slices of the market, this "renaissance" can also be interpreted as the edge GM is searching for. It says some of its problems have stemmed from a lack of style.

"The designers were reduced to the guys who put the wrapper on it after everyone else decided what it was gonna be," said Bob Lutz, chairman of General Motors in North America. "And we lost all the creative spark and dynamism and everything that the designers wanted to do."

Now, the triplets may represent a new age for General Motors, one in which the designers are once again in the front seat and their concepts on smaller cars could turn into something bigger.