GM closes UK Advanced Design Studio

CDN has learnt that General Motors is closing its UK Advanced Design Studio as part of its ongoing restructuring program.

Clay Dean, GM's executive director of advanced global design and Cadillac's brand director, arrived at the studio on 4 August to announce the closure to staff.

The UK studio, which opened in 1999, was predominantly involved in the creation of Cadillac concept cars and was originally planned to be a short-term confidential operation as the smallest of GM's design studios.

Denis Chick, director of communications at Vauxhall, a division of the General Motors group, says, "This was a small operation with four or five full-time staff, 12 people in total. The employees are being offered work elsewhere, while some of the staff are contractors. I'm sure we will have no problem finding them work."

The studio was originally founded with the intention of redefining the Cadillac brand by exploring the European markets to source new ideas outside of North America, the traditional power base of General Motors. It was in this studio that the Vauxhall Lightning concept was designed in 2003, as part of Vauxhall's celebration of its 100th anniversary. Vauxhall wanted to create a car within the UK to emphasize the manufacturer's brand presence within the UK. The Cadillac Converj concept, a plug-in hybrid car, was also created within the studio and was later revealed at the 2009 Detroit auto show.

The UK Advanced Design Studio has been under the stewardship of design director Jeff Perkins after he took the reins from Simon Cox at the end of last year.

The company has been undergoing restructuring for the last two years and the closure was part of the plan to roll back the company to within the USA, in order to reduce the company's global footprint and create a more sustainable business for the long-term future.

We will endeavor to find out more about the closure of the studio and provide more details on the future objectives of General Motors Design soon.

By Rufus Thompson