The Legend Called GM Design

This month GM Design celebrates its 85th birthday. We report the official timeline of the first ever automotive design department, founded in June 1927.

On June 23, 1927, the Executive Committee of General Motors approved the creation of a new department to “study the question of art and color combinations in General Motors products” and hired Harley Earl, a custom coach builder from Hollywood and the creator of the 1927 LaSalle, as its leader.

“Earl’s entry into the auto industry doomed rival Henry Ford’s “the customer can have it any color he wants as long as it is black” motto. Among Earl’s numerous accomplishments are the development of concept cars; the yearly model changeover; the vehicle tailfins of the 1950s; the traveling Motorama auto shows and the development of the iconic Corvette. Earl also is credited with hiring the industry’s first female automotive designers.”

GM Design vice presidents following Earl were William Mitchell (1958-1977), Irving Rybicki (1977-1986),Charles Jordan (1986-1992), Wayne Cherry (1992-2003) and Welburn (2003-present).

Ed Welburn, the sixth design chief in GM’s 104-year history, is the first to have global vehicle design leadership responsibilities.

Today, General Motors Design is the largest global automotive OEM design function, with 1,900 men and women working in a network of 10 Design Centers in seven countries: United States, Germany, Korea, China, Australia, Brazil and India.

June 1927

• The GM Executive Committee establishes the Art and Colour Section. Studio operations are located in the GM Building on East Grand Boulevard in Detroit under the direction of Harley Earl, who began his career designing custom auto bodies for Hollywood actors and designed the 1927 LaSalle. It is the first department of its kind among major automotive manufacturers.
• From the beginning, Earl uses modeling clay to shape his design ideas.
• Art and Colour Section initially apply color and trim features to bodies already designed by GM’s Fisher Body Division.

1930s

• Early attempts to create pleasing designs run into problems, so engineers are integrated into the creative staff. Many Art and Colour team members go on to significant leadership positions at other automakers.
• First corporate international design studios at Opel, Vauxhall and Holden.
• The use of color in mass-produced vehicles is introduced across the GM line.
• 1930 Cadillac Madame X V 16s bring the best of custom car styling to production vehicles and establish GM as a player in the luxury car business.
• The Cadillac V 16 Aero Coupe, which debuts at the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair, demonstrates the “all metal upper.” It is credited with influencing the steel industry to develop the wider rolling mills needed to roll sheet steel for an all-metal car.
• GM pioneers the concept of “advanced design,” working ahead of current thinking in special studio teams to explore possibilities from engineering and design ideas.
• Art and Colour dominates the new field of industrial design, creating products in the areas of streamlined trains with new diesel engines from GM’s ElectoMotive Division; exhibit design [1939 World’s Fair "Futurama Exhibit" in partnership with Norman Bel Geddes that forever changed the approach to exhibits]; the Parade of Progress that travels throughout America spreading the GM story; home appliances with a wide variety of fans, radios, etc. for GM’s Delco Products Division; and buses for the commercial vehicle market.
• The first all-metal-upper vehicles in mass production – the GM Turret Tops.
• Art and Colour Section is renamed “General Motors Styling Section” in 1937. Operations move to the top four floors of the GM Research Building on Milwaukee Avenue, just behind GM Headquarters. Earl organizes formal studios for each car division – Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick, Cadillac, Truck and Coach, and several other studios for advanced design. The enclosed studio space for each brand is copied by every other automotive company.
• The Buick Y-Job – widely considered the automotive industry’s first concept car – is completed in 1938. Its long and low profile influences design for years. It also introduces electrically operated windows, flush door handles, a power-operated convertible top and the elimination of running boards.
• 1938 Cadillac 60 Special is introduced and recognized as a major style-setting design to this day.

1940s

• Harley Earl is named a vice president in 1940, indicating that the designer’s counsel is as important to GM’s management as any other staff. No other automotive company at that time had elevated styling to such a high management level.
• As the United States enters World War II, production of civilian automobiles is halted. The Styling Section becomes the Camouflage and War Service Section.
• GM is the first automotive company to hire women designers.
• The first use of curved glass is made in the rear windows of Cadillac, Buick and Oldsmobile models which, together with the sloping backs called “fast backs,” add to the streamline effect. Cadillac and Oldsmobile also lead the industry with “full envelope bodies” that emphasize applied rear fenders.
• Cadillac launches the use of rear “fins” and “egg crate” grilles. Buick launches “portholes” and “sweepspears” on the body sides, which remain with Buick to this day.
• GM creates an important new concept train with ElectroMotive Division, called the “Train of Tomorrow.”
• GM Chairman Alfred P. Sloan decides to create a technical center to house GM Research Laboratories, and the Styling, Engineering and Manufacturing staffs. Earl persuades GM management that a distinctive design is required for the facility and he recruits renowned architect Eero Saarinen. Construction begins in 1949. The General Motors Technical Center in Warren, Mich. – the first industrial park of its kind in the world – eventually gains acclaim as a classic example of mid-20th century modernism, known as International Style.
• GM allows Earl to set up an independent industrial design firm to give his designers projects outside of the automotive business to broaden their backgrounds.
• Under Cadillac’s chief designer William Mitchell, tailfins debut on the 1948 Cadillac. Inspired by the World War II-era twin-fuselage fighter, the Lockheed P-38, the tailfins set off a decade-long styling trend.
  Earl had taken his designers to see the P-38 Lockheed Lightning at an Air Force base outside Detroit.
• In 1949, GM Styling introduces the first hardtops. The design, introduced on Buick, Cadillac and Oldsmobile models, eliminated the B-pillar roof supports.

1950s

 

• The 1951 LeSabre concept is unveiled. Inspired by the F-86 Sabre jet and probably the most influential dream car from Earl’s vision, the LeSabre concept features a one-touch top that closes automatically at a drop of rain, heated power seats, illuminated knobs and switches, a power antenna, and the world’s first wrap-around windshield. The concept influences car design for decades.
• Sloan sought to expand the role Earl’s dream cars could play to inspire customers by creating the 1953 Motorama at New York’s Waldorf Astoria, the first stop of a six-city tour. GM Styling creates the shows’ look and feel.
• The 1953 Motorama introduces the Buick Skylark, the Chevrolet Corvette and the Cadillac Eldorado – eventual classics of American car design. Other eventual classics introduced in the ’50s: the 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air and Bel Air Nomad, and the 1959 Cadillac Eldorado.
• GM Styling unveils the Firebird I (1952), II (1956) and III (1958) concepts in support of GM Research’s experimental turbine engine program.
  The designs are inspired by the nation’s fascination with the jet age.
• Dominance in industrial design continues with Kitchen of Tomorrow, an all-aluminum Aerotrain built from GMC bus bodies to reduce weight, and heavy equipment for the Euclid Division.
• The Styling staff moves to the completed Technical Center in 1955.
  The Technical Center is formally dedicated in May 1956 before a crowd of 5,000 people and on national television, with CBS’ Walter Cronkite as the emcee. President Dwight D. Eisenhower addresses the crowd on the radio.
• Earl retires in 1958, and is succeeded by William Mitchell as vice president of Styling.

 

1960s

• Mitchell continues his predecessor’s style of longer, lower and wider automobiles. However, he tweaks it to add crisp, sharp edges to the roofs and fenders – a change inspired in part by his fashion sensibilities.
  Mitchell was known to say, “Trousers don’t look any damn good without a crease in them; you’ve got to have an edge to accentuate form.”
• One of Mitchell’s first projects involves the purchase of a retired, racing chassis from the corporation, which had ended its participation in motorsports. He retrofits it with a body he calls the “Stingray.”
  The race car inspires design of the 1963 Corvette Stingray. His experimental Corvettes, the Mako Shark in 1963 and the Manta Ray in 1969, capture his passion for sharp lines.

• Mitchell sets up parallel design activities, whereby each design team might be in charge of different proposals for a body shared by Buick, Oldsmobile, Pontiac and Chevrolet, competing with each other and possibly with other studios to develop the favored theme from which each would later develop divisional programs.
• Another landmark of Mitchell design, the 1963 Buick Riviera, is introduced.
• By the mid-’60s, GM Styling numbers almost 1,600 employees, including automotive and industrial designers, engineers, sculptors, color and fabric experts, draftsmen, wood and metal model builders, and pattern makers. It is the industry’s largest design organization.
• The Mitchell era sees the pioneering use of new design techniques such as the use of black tape to illustrate full-size drawings, allowing for increased creative flexibility and faster modification.
• The ’60s become the era of the muscle car and small block V-8 engines. GM vehicles such as the 1964 Pontiac GTO, the 1967 Pontiac Firebird and Chevrolet Camaro, and the 1968 Corvette, rule Woodward Avenue in the Motor City.

1970s

• GM Styling is renamed “GM Design Staff” in 1972 to reflect the need to approach the product as a total concept, not just with surface styling.
• Human factors engineering becomes part of the vehicle design process. Data collected from test subjects is used to design windshields, rear windows, instrumental panels and other car parts.
• By 1974, designers begin using computer-aided design to create illustrations.
• By the mid-1970s, revolutionary changes – including an oil embargo – end the muscle car era.
  Cost-conscious consumers want smaller, fuel-efficient cars. American auto companies re-engineer their vehicles to make them smaller and lighter for better fuel economy.
• Irvin Rybicki becomes the third vice president of design upon Mitchell’s retirement in 1977. He heads GM’s massive downsizing drive, which involves a major overhaul of virtually every existing car line at GM by 1985.

1980s

• To improve interior vehicle design, the science of ergonomics becomes increasingly important. Ergonomics ensures features are designed for ease of access, visibility and comprehension.
• Rybicki leads the introduction of the “X” body, a new-generation vehicle with a transverse-mounted engine, an industry first.
  Featured vehicles included the 1980 Chevrolet Citation, Pontiac Phoenix, Olds Omega and Buick Skylark.
• Rybicki also oversees the creation of “J”-body cars including the best-selling Chevrolet Cavalier. He draws on his Chevrolet experience for notable designs such as the 1982 Chevrolet Camaro, the 1984 Chevrolet Corvette and the 1987 Beretta and Corsica.
• Vehicle design becomes less of a differentiator as consumer attention shifts to safety, emission standards and fuel efficiency.
• Charles Jordan succeeds Rybicki in 1986 as the fourth vice president of GM Design.
• To underscore GM’s stature as a technologically advanced, forward-thinking company, the Teamwork and Technology Exhibit opens at New York’s Waldorf Astoria in 1987.
• Jordan establishes a “studio of the future” to explore the capabilities of math-based design. Alias software is used for the first time to create 3-D computer models and to mill reduced-scale and full-size clay models.
• The design staff comprises 36 studios divided in seven departments: CPC (Chevrolet/Pontiac/Canada/Saturn), BOC (Buick/Oldsmobile/Cadillac), trucks, advanced design, advanced concepts, colors and materials, and international coordination.
• The Oldsmobile Aerotech concept debuts in 1987 as does the 1988 Buick Reatta – two-passenger, front-drive coupe.

• 1990s

  • The 1992 Cadillac Seville, the 1992 Pontiac Bonneville, 1994 Chevrolet S-10 Blazer and pickup, the 1995 Buick Riviera and the 1995 Oldsmobile Aurora are introduced.
  • Wayne Cherry becomes the fifth vice president of GM Design in 1992. Cherry’s international experience in design and management reshapes the Design Center. Cherry had previously served as the director of design at Vauxhall/Bedford and Opel.
  • Cherry reorganizes GM Design, moving from 27 exterior, interior and advanced studios to eight brand character centers, each with a clear brand identity and familiar look.
  • Digital design and math-based tools assume a greater role in the design process. Two virtual reality centers permit the evaluation of math-based designs in 3-D.
  • Design Center deploys the largest number of designer workstations in the industry. Designers, sculptors and engineers are all trained in the use of digital tools. Computer animation allows conceptual designs to be shown driving through realistic environments. Clay milling machines are installed on nearly every modeling platform.
  • Cherry proposes showing a portfolio of new product concepts at major auto shows each year. The 1999 Chevrolet Nomad, Cadillac Evoq and Buick Cielo concepts, developed under Cherry’s leadership, are unveiled at the 1999 North American International Auto Show. The Evoq is named “Best in Show.”

  2000-2009

   
  • In Harley Earl’s hometown, GM’s North Hollywood Advanced Design Center opens its doors in January 2000 in the former home of the area’s landmark bread bakeries. A year later, at the Los Angeles Auto Show, the studio presents its first vehicle, the Chevrolet Borrego Concept.
   
  • The Chevrolet SSR hot-rod pickup concept, introduced at the 2000 NAIAS, realizes Cherry’s vision for developing a contemporary, high-performance vehicle based on the brand equity and popularity of early 1950s Chevrolet pickups.
  • Robert Lutz joins GM to become vice chairman for product development. Lutz seeks to bolster Design’s role and influence in the vehicle development process.
   
  • GM Design reshapes the automobile with the AUTOnomy, the first vehicle designed completely around a fuel cell system and by-wire technology.
   

  The concept was unveiled at the 2002 North American International Auto Show, along with award-winning Pontiac Solstice and Cadillac Cien concepts.

   

   
  • GM showcases “Concept to Reality” at the 2002 North American International Auto Show with three production-model introductions – the Chevy SSR, Cadillac XLR and HUMMER H2. The SSR is designed by Ed Welburn, who succeeds Cherry a year later.
  • Cherry’s leadership and personal involvement establish the new design direction for Cadillac, embodied in the 2001 Cadillac Escalade, 2002 Escalade EXT, 2003 CTS and 2004 XLR and SRX, the latter named a Car and Driver “Five Best Trucks Luxury SUV” award in 2004, 2005 and 2006.
  • GM Design restructures, moving to an architecture-based system led by five executive directors who report to the GM vice president for Design.
    The executive directors oversee quality and brand character, unibody architectures, body-on-frame architectures, vehicle architecture engineering, and advanced vehicle design.
  • From 1999 through 2003, GM reveals more than 35 auto show vehicles around the globe – mostly at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
   
  • The Cadillac Sixteen concept, a modern interpretation of everything that made Cadillac the standard of the world, is unveiled at the 2003 NAIAS. GM designers draw extensively on the traditions of coach building for the Cadillac Sixteen, employing the talents of leading artisans for the upholstery, instrumentation, interior wood and metal elements, and aluminum body panels.
  • In 2003, Edward T. Welburn becomes GM’s sixth design chief when he is named vice president of GM North America Design.
  • As North American and European markets mature, sales surge in emerging markets such as China and Southeast Asia, the Middle East and South America, accelerating the need for expanded global design capabilities.
  • Welburn is named vice-president of GM Global Design in 2005, the first design chief with global leadership responsibilities. His vision is to align design activities around centers of excellence: pickups and SUVs in the U.S., midsize cars in Europe, rear-drive cars in Australia, and small cars in Europe and South Korea.
  • Holden Efijy – a wild, 21st-century hot rod reincarnating Australia’s most famous car, the Holden FJ – debuts at Australian International Motor Show October 2005. The pillarless coupe features a Corvette underbody, V-8 power, and state-of-the-art technology.
  • Chevrolet Camaro wins 2006 EyesOn Design award for “Concept Implementation.”
  • The Chevrolet Volt concept is introduced at the 2007 North American International Auto Show. An electric car with extended range, it alleviates the “range anxiety” associated with previous electric vehicles and elicits an avalanche of global media coverage.
  • The newly redesigned Chevrolet Silverado is named 2007 “North American Truck of the Year.”
  • The 2008 Cadillac CTS wins EyesOn Design award for “Concept Implementation.”
  • Buick’s Riviera concept makes its world debut at 2007 Shanghai Auto Show, revealing the brand’s global design direction for its next generation of midsize luxury cars.
  • At the 2007 New York Auto Show, a trio of small-car concepts (aka the Chevrolet Triplets) is unveiled in South Korea with the names Beat, Traxx and Groove. The Beat goes on to inspire the production Chevrolet Spark.
  • In GM’s centennial year, the beginning of a GM design revival produces three standouts: the 2008 Chevrolet Malibu, which re-establishes Chevrolet in the midsize sedan segment; the 2008 Buick Enclave, which ushers in a total product renaissance at Buick; and the second-generation Cadillac CTS, the first car from a GM brand to win Motor Trend “Car of the Year” honors since 1998. The 2009 Cadillac CTS-V and CTS Coupe Concept win EyesOn Design “Best Production Car” and “Best Concept” awards, respectively.
  • Chevrolet debuts GPiX Crossover Coupe at Sao Paulo International Auto Show in October 2008.
  • The Cadillac Converj Concept, revealed at the 2009 North American International Auto Show, wins the EyesOn Design “Best Concept,” AutoWeek’s “Best Concept” and the Detroit News’ Readers’ Choice “Best Concept” awards.
  • In 2009, GM is one of two domestic automakers to undergo a managed bankruptcy as a result of the 2008 global economic collapse. GM cuts its North American brands from eight to four –   Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC.
  • Two all-new, important Chevrolets are introduced in 2009: The global Cruze small car, which goes on to be Chevrolet’s top-selling passenger car; the Chevrolet Camaro, which unseats the Ford Mustang for sports car dominance.
  • 50th Anniversary Corvette Stingray Coupe (aka Corvette Centennial) is first shown at the Chicago Auto Show and stars in the movie “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.”
  • The first new-vehicle launch after GM emerges from bankruptcy, the 2010 Buick LaCrosse, continues the brand’s product transformation.
   

  Designed in the U.S. and China, it is GM’s first globally designed passenger car. LaCrosse receives more than a dozen awards and car industry accolades by Time, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), Car and Driver, Edmunds, About.com, Motor Week, CanadianDriver.com, Kelly Blue Book.

  2010-Present

  • GMC wins top honors for the Granite Concept at the EyesOn Design Awards at the 2010 North American International Auto Show; the Cadillac CTS Coupe and Cadillac XTS concept win “Best in Show” and “Best Concept,” respectively, in the annual Detroit News Readers’ Choice Awards.
  • The Chevrolet Cruze, already on sale around the world, goes on sale in North America.
  • New 2010 Equinox reflects Chevrolet’s global design language first shown on the Malibu sedan and Traverse crossover.
  • Industry awards for the Equinox include Ward’s “Interior of the Year,” Cars.com “SUV of the Year”; Car and Driver Editor’s Choice; Kbb.com “Top 10 Family Car”; Motor Week “Drivers’ Choice-Best Small Utility”; Consumer’s Digest “Best Buy.”
  • Three EN-V (Electric Networked Vehicle) Conceptsmake their debut in the SAIC-GM exhibit at the World Expo 2010 Shanghai, offering the promise of reducing traffic congestion, crashes and vehicle emissions using wireless communication, vehicle sensors, GPS and vehicle-to-vehicle communication. Buick Envision Concept is also unveiled at the show.
  • The Chevrolet Camaro wins several awards: 2010 “World Car Design of the Year” at the 2010 New York International Auto Show; “Collectible Car of the Year” by the National Automotive History Collection; Kiplinger’s “Best New Sports Car,” Ward’s “Best Sports Car Interior” award; “Best in Design” by Popular Mechanics, SEMA Show’s “Hottest Car” in 2010 and 2011 and Edmunds’ “Launch Breakthrough.”
  • GM launches the Baojun brand in 2010 to address the growing demand for affordable passenger cars in China.
  • In late 2010, the production version of the Chevrolet Volt extended range electric vehicle rolls off the assembly line at GM’s Detroit-Hamtramck plant.
  • The 21st-century rebirth of Camaro opens a new chapter when 2011 Camaro convertible is unveiled at the Los Angeles Auto Show in November 2010. Road & Track names it a “New Year’s Coolest Car.”
  • Third-generation Buick GL8 MPV debuts at Shanghai Auto Show in November 2010 with more space, power, features and Buick’s modern design vocabulary.
  • At the 2011 North American International Auto Show, Volt is named “North American Car of the Year,” Motor Trend “Car of the Year” and Motor Week Driver’s Choice “Best of the Year.”
  • Cadillac CTS-V Wagon is named 2011 All-Star by Automobile magazine; “Editors Choice” top 10 vehicle of the year by MSN Autos and the “Most Wanted” by Edmunds Inside Line.
  • An all-new, globally designed Chevrolet Colorado midsize pickup truck launches in Thailand, the world’s largest midsize pickup market. At a media event celebrating the Chevrolet Centennial, it is announced the pickup will be sold in North America.
  • Opel Astra GTC Compact Coupe debuts at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show to strong public interest: 15,000 customer orders are received effectively sight unseen.
  • The all-new Chevrolet Malibu – Chevrolet’s first global midsize sedan – goes on sale in South Korea. It will eventually be sold in more than 100 countries on six continents.
  • 2012 Camaro ZL1 Coupe – the fastest Camaro ever offered by Chevrolet – debuts at the 2011 Chicago Auto Show. The ZL1 Convertible is unveiled nine months later at the Los Angeles Auto Show as a 2013 model.
  • Ciel Concept makes its world debut at the 2011 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, recalling Cadillac’s large, expressive luxury heritage in a modern, forward-facing way.
  • U.S. and Canadian version of the Chevrolet Spark is introduced at the Los Angeles Auto Show. It will go on sale in 2012, followed by a battery-electric version for select markets in 2013.
  • The all-new 2013 Cadillac XTS makes its debut at the Los Angeles Auto Show with distinction as the most technologically advanced production car in the brand’s history.
  • The global Buick Encore small crossover is unveiled at the 2012 North American International Auto Show.
  • The Chevrolet MiRay concept car wins “Best Concept” in the annual Detroit News Readers’ Choice Awards.
  • Cadillac introduces 2013 ATS, an all-new compact luxury sports sedan to challenge the world’s best premium cars.
  • Chevrolet Volt and its European sibling Opel Ampera are named the 2012 “European Car of the Year” – the first vehicle designed and manufactured in North America to earn the prestigious award.
  • The 2014 Impala, Chevrolet’s new flagship and the 10th generation of one of the industry’s most enduring and popular nameplates, debuts at the 2012 New York International Auto Show.
  • GM Global Design announces it will expand its GM Korea Design Center by early 2013. The expansion will create an environment for designers to create and develop design strategies for GM’s future product portfolio.
  • GM announces that a new GM China Advanced Studio will open in July 2012 in Shanghai and serve as a future hub for automotive design in Asia. It is headed by Wulin Gaowa, the first female designer appointed to oversee a stand-alone GM Design studio.
  (Text and images Carbodydesign, Source: GM)