GM Advanced Design California celebrates 10th Anniversary

On the eve of the 2010 LA Auto Show, GM's California Advanced Design Studio opened its doors in North Hollywood, to celebrate its 10th Anniversary.

Based in a former bakery, the studio occupies a relatively small space in North Hollywood/Burbank with studio warehouses and small outbuildings sharing the plot, creating an environment that – if not for the palm trees – could easily double for the artisan workshops of a firm in old Europe.

Yet on the night itself, the studio took on an altogether ethereal appearance – light-filled globes floated above the buildings and grounds, casting a blue/white hue across the venue. The impression was that the studio might have become the setting for a Doc Brown experiment – we were in Hollywood, after all.

Having signed the model sculpture on the way in, the more observant among the gathered throngs noted the presence of one of LA's infamous Kogi BBQ trucks (next location coming to you via Twitter), quietly illustrating that for all the accusations of it being a johnny-come-lately organization, there are people in GM who clearly know what the latest trends are, and know how to please a cool crowd.

Passing Jay Leno, we stumbled across the EcoJet concept, which the Tonight show host had driven from his home and parked alongside other concepts the studio has produced in its ten-year history. Notable among them were the So Cal Belly Tank Ecotec 'Lakester' racecars from 2006, which still convey an alluring combination of retro – via the 40s speed racers from which they get their name – and modern, thanks to their aerodynamic forms and canopies.

Moving through the courtyard, the studio's first ever vehicle, the Chevrolet Borrego, stood on a pedestal, while the Camaro concept and Miao – GM's future mobility concept designed at this studio, which forms part of the company's trio of EN-V – was also present, fresh from duties at the 2010 Shanghai Expo. Angled towards one another – almost as if they were eyeing each other up – we wonder if these vehicles represent a neat encapsulation of GM's past and future?

Parked close by, and the first surprise of the night, was the GMC Granite CPU (Compact Pick Up). This utility version of the EyesOn Design-winning Granite concept, garnered much attention and praise. Its four-foot long bed neatly extends to six-feet long thanks to a pair of rear barn doors, which lock in an 'out' position, extending length of the bed for larger items. The CPU, which was finished just days before its unveiling at the anniversary event, will be shown at NAIAS early next year. Look out for some particularly neat detailing and conceptual solutions in the bed area when it makes its debut.

Down the alley, in the rear car park, an engineer was demonstrating the real, workable nature of Miao – zooming around, twirling the vehicle in its own footprint and almost painting with light – thanks to the EN-V's turn of speed and LED light strip highlights.

The main event of the night was the unveiling of the Cadillac Urban Luxury Concept, or ULC, which Frank Saucedo introduced as it silently drove into the centre of the courtyard. Amid the brick of the studio and under the lights and palm trees, the ULC had an appealing quality it unfortunately lost the next day on the show stand in the halls of the Convention Center in LA.

Inside the main studio, designers' desks had been carefully staged and cleared of material that the more unscrupulous of journalistic types might have attempted to turn into a scoop. It felt like a privilege to see the racks of old clay models and the various bucks from the ULC project. Most people hadn't noticed though, as they were too preoccupied by the fact that Smokey Robinson had just walked into the room alongside Ed Welburn...

Returning to the courtyard, a commotion was kicking up. It sounded like a thousand vacuum cleaners had simultaneously switched on and were attempting to gobble up the tassels at the end of a rug – the ones which, however hard you try to avoid, always seem to get stuck and block the suction nozzle. It was, in fact, Jay Leno leaving in the EcoJet. In a cacophony of noise, and in front of hundreds of onlookers, he calmly drove the concept out onto the public road and, presumably, back to whichever warehouse it is normally stored in. It was a fittingly surreal end to the night, and an event that could only ever happen in California.

Related Article:
Southern California's Design Studios 

By Joe Simpson