GM Design Center Conceptual Interior Elements

[Flybrian]

GM Design Center - Conceptual Interior Elements

In speaking of the future of interior design some months ago, General Motors stated that the black-tie radios seen in virtually every GM vehicle from the Aveo to the Lucerne were a "stepping stone" between the old, often clunky interior controls of the past and the fully-integrated designs coming in the near future. Today, GM released these computer-generated '2007 proposals' of radio/HVAC designs, instrument panels, and other interior design elements. Cars like the 2008 CTS are just the beginning of GM's future design language. And after seeing these, lets hope we caught a glimpse of it.

As a note, the captions below are part official captions and part our speculation.

2007 GM Design proposed Scroll Wheel Key Fob


2007 GM Design proposed Fullsize Truck/SUV MCE Center Stack


2007 GM Design proposed Fullsize Truck/SUV MCE Center Stack


2007 GM Design proposed BRX Center Stack


2007 GM Design proposed Chevy Reconfigurable Cluster


2007 GM Design proposed Pontiac Advanced Cluster


2007 GM Design proposed Cadillac Reconfigurable Cluster


Stalk Sketch


Ambient Lighting Theme Sketch

[PurdueGuy]

wow

[pow]

I see the iPhone has made it to car design..

[matt41]

wow

Wow is right........

[Northstar]

Those first two center stacks are clearly trucks/SUVs, it has 4wd or 2wd modes. But what? Colorado? Equinox?

The third center stack looks like a Buick. Much like the Chinese Park Ave and it has "stitching" on it. Needless to say, these look pretty good.

[FAPTurbo]

Those 'Reconfigurable Clusters' are a bit much for me, but other than that, I like what I see.

However, I'll be even happier to see them in some vehicles.

[VenSeattle]

The third center stack looks like a Buick. Much like the Chinese Park Ave and it has "stitching" on it. Needless to say, these look pretty good.

The third one says Cadillac BLS to me: retractable Navi above stack, symmetrical layout, satin finish surround (or chrome) air vents.

[bowtie_dude]

Just pipe dreams? Lets hope not.

[Sixty8panther]

As cool as this looks I'm going to be my usual self and remind everyone that NEWER =/= BETTER in every case.

I look at this and think, that's gorgeous, so progressive, until you get the blue screen of death.

[Sixty8panther]

Love the KNIGHT RIDER fob btw.

[jbartley]

iphone design? hardly, this stuff is light-years ahead of anything else. I love it. implement even 50% of this, and it will be amazing. the cadillac cluster is a little overdone and busy.

But the GM concept stacks, metal/plastic. plastic/wood. look really really good.

[bowtie_dude]

I'll believe the gauge cluster stuff when I see it.

[toesuf94]

*gasp* - Is this not a refreshing departure from EVERYTHING we have seen in the past 30-40 years at GM??? Not a BOX anywhere! Shapes! Color! Eye appeal! BEAUTY! Wow. Now please find a way to make these a reality and bring the inside of the car to speed!

[big blue]

Now that's the stuff I want to see out of GM. That Cadillac cluster is very futuristic looking, happy to have GM show off its design muscles. The truck center consoles are nice looking, but they should honestly be here sooner rather than later. The competition already has similar concepts being produced already or soon to be released. At least the bow-tie units don't look like cheap crap if they are surrounded by a nice interior, ie: Tahoe. I'm just glad the CTS isn't saddled with that unit.

[BuddyP]

Whooo! The future is now boys!

The cadillac instrament layout with the nav in corperated is very slick!

[bowtie_dude]

Now that's the stuff I want to see out of GM. That Cadillac cluster is very futuristic looking, happy to have GM show off its design muscles. The truck center consoles are nice looking, but they should honestly be here sooner rather than later. The competition already has similar concepts being produced already or soon to be released. At least the bow-tie units don't look like cheap crap if they are surrounded by a nice interior, ie: Tahoe. I'm just glad the CTS isn't saddled with that unit.

I wouldn't get too excited. The 2008 Malibu still has it, the 2009 Cobalt MCE will probably still have it, and we still have to look at it in the trucks and SUVs for at least 4 years.

[Guest YellowJacket894]

Two words: knock-out.

Produce every last bit of it, GM.

[CSpec]

I would bet that's the interior of the Chevy Traverse. It looks very very similar to the Acadia interior.

[bowtie_dude]

Or maybe MCE Equinox?

[Cadillacfan]

Wow! Holy Crap. I can't believe how much effort GM is really putting into the interior design. We all heard that things were going to change, but not this drastically.

I'm going to refer to the photos in the first post and not post them because they're far to huge.

Photo #1) Cadillac key fob:

My opinion of the one on the left: Excellent design. High-Tech but realistic for GM. Cadillac should have something like this before BMW, Mercedes, Lexus, and Audi offer these on their new cars ( and you know that they're all probably already well into development with digital key-fobs like this)

Photo #2) Full Size Truck and SUV center stack:

Sure, it says Full Size, but if you look closely at the overall shape of it, you can see it's clearly a Lambda-based interior design.

As seen here in the first photo, the center stack for the Tahoe/Yukon is one solid shape from the top of the dash to the lower dash.

In this photo, you can see the similarities of the way the dash is shaped between this andthe design study.

Could GM be changing the overall interior design of the Full-sizers to match that of the Lambda interiors? Possibly. But I think we're looking at something we might see coming to the future from the Outlook or the Acadia.

A little drab looking and looks too similar to the interior of the new Focus and Escape and that prevents me from liking it as much.

Photo #3) The GM Proposed Center stack:

This is obviously a design study for the Malibu MCE(mid-cycle enhancement) or the Aura MCE, before the Vectra replacement comes to the US.

Reason: The shape of the dash is exactly the same.

My Opinion: Fixes the cheap look that the current radio/hvac design gives the Aura and new Malibu a good overall look.

Photo #4) Center stack:

Has strong design ties to the new CTS interior from the shape of the air vents to the design of the radio / hvac. There is a strong possibility we'll see this in the BRX and not the BLS as suggested. My reasoning behind this: It's overall appearance is a little more rugged then what you'd see in a sedan and it's positioned a bit higher then the CTS hinting that this belongs in a vehicle where the driver is sitting a little bit higher then in a sedan. I like it a lot.

Photo #5) Gauge cluster :

I have no clue about where this might go. Could end up in Buick, could end up in Chevrolets. I'm leaning a little more to the latter since it comes off as a little retro-ish in execution.

Photo #6) Gauge cluster 2 :

Pontiac anyone? Certainly looks like it could fit in the "excitement" division and the color scheme is similar.

Photo #7) Cadillac gauge cluster:

This has Cadillac ULS written all over it. GM better use it since digital speedometers are quickly becoming the new fad in luxury boats.. <sarcasm>Thanks Mercedes 7-class.</sarcasm>

All-in-all, a good show from GM. Hopefully, these are much more then concepts.

Edited August 30, 2007 by Cadillacfan

[loki]

the cadi stuff looks great, the pontiac is eh. i don't think the stereo/hvac control integration is good, i'm of the persuasion that aftermarket stereos will "always" be better than OEM. but as far as look goes, well done overall.

[Cory Wolfe]

Looks good, but whether GM brings it to production or not is the question.

[CaddyXLR-V]

I don't like the Pontiac one too much. I would support switching Pontiac away from the red lighting.

[big blue]

I wouldn't get too excited. The 2008 Malibu still has it, the 2009 Cobalt MCE will probably still have it, and we still have to look at it in the trucks and SUVs for at least 4 years.

Sadly that's all true. But if there's a future without the unit, I'm all for it. I don't really hate the thing either, I'm just like most people who hate seeing it in every GM price range.

Oh and +1 for the poster above who said Pontiac should change their red lighting, kinda taxing on the eyes after awhile. It also turns certain people off from even considering a Pontiac, such as my father.

Edited August 29, 2007 by big blue

[PurdueGuy]

user selectable color instrument lighting FTW!

[Ravenfreak13]

the fob i really like. The rest...well....it reminds me of some random racing game. The cadillac one is very poorly representitive. Cadillac is supposed to be high class/sophistication and this gauge cluster doesnt show that

[pow]

GM + Apple > Ford + Microsoft

The battle of the great American companies...

[ZL-1]

Looks good, but whether GM brings it to production or not is the question.

that's the million dollar question

[bowtie_dude]

Pontiac's red, Mazda's red, BMW is red. I like red. I miss it in my Crapalier.

[titan]

Love it, love it, love it. I hope that make it happen.

[mustang84]

Cool, I like them all.

[RichW5]

One of the problems with my 03 CTS has been the dial you have to turn, then press, to view or change any of the DIC functions. I haven't had a chance to check out the 08 CTS yet (maybe today or tomorrow) but some of the dials on these proposals look like the same crap.

I have questions about the retractable NAV screen. Is it another costly repair problem when it gets jammed?

The XLR needs a space age dash to go along with the art & science styling! Where is it?

Nice try GM, but your vehicles need these dashes right now, not 10 years down the line.

[CaddyXLR-V]

Pontiac's red, Mazda's red, BMW is red. I like red. I miss it in my Crapalier.

GTO is green, and it's so much nicer than any of my previous Pontiacs. The G8 will probably be similar to the GTO.

GM should have a dial which changes the color.

[91z4me]

WOW! Just WOW.

I think this could be game changing stuff. If it beats others to market.

[usa1]

These looks great. However, why on earth is GM showing these to the world? Why not show them to the world 3 months ahead of when a car that uses them is ready for sale?

GM: An expert at prematurely announcing everything.

Mark

[pow]

These looks great. However, why on earth is GM showing these to the world? Why not show them to the world 3 months ahead of when a car that uses them is ready for sale?

GM: An expert at prematurely announcing everything.

Mark

Or maybe they're announcing them before everybody else announces them. Manufacturers all hire the best designers out of the same design schools; it just depends on which mfg can actually realize these concepts. Perhaps GM is confident that these renderings will make it.

[Flybrian]

Or maybe they're announcing them before everybody else announces them. Manufacturers all hire the best designers out of the same design schools; it just depends on which mfg can actually realize these concepts. Perhaps GM is confident that these renderings will make it.

Well, they're not announcing them anymore. They're gone from where I got them from.

[drew770]

They all look good and the thing that is most exciting is GM wants to put a different instrument cluster in the different brands.

My goodness, no more one instrument cluster fits all and the same for the dash. I am glad to see that GM is really trying to put an emphasis on how the interior looks and feel.

It's about time.

[sciguy_0504]

The Lambda design isn't so special, IMO. The current design is fine.

The Malibu/Aura proposal is much better than what we currently have. It is a little busy but a big improvement.

The proposed BRX center stack looks great, too.

The gauge clusters are overkill, though, though Pontiac's isn't that bad. It looks like there's too much information being squeezed into too small a space.

[gmii]

Clean, crisp designs that are high in quality...Very good. Details like the lighted CD slot show GM is picking up on details. They look good and will be in cars MUCH earlier than you realize.

[ZL-1]

The gauge clusters are overkill, though, though Pontiac's isn't that bad. It looks like there's too much information being squeezed into too small a space.

I'm sure the gauge clusters have been posted as a technology showcase, and like a concept car they're bound to have some overkill factor to them. Edited August 29, 2007 by ZL-1

[pow]

I'm sure the gauge clusters have been posted as a technology showcase, and like a concept car they're bound to have some overkill factor to them.

Perhaps it can be a $850 option and come with a free iPhone.

[bowtie_dude]

GTO is green, and it's so much nicer than any of my previous Pontiacs. The G8 will probably be similar to the GTO.

GM should have a dial which changes the color.

Ugh, I hate green. Its probably the thing I hate most about Fords.

[Cadillacfan]

Thanks for putting your trust in my observations guys. I didn't actually think you'd change them to match my guesses.

[Flybrian]

Thanks for putting your trust in my observations guys. I didn't actually think you'd change them to match my guesses.

You look like you put reasonable thought into it and upon comparing myself, it looked plausible. Plus, I asked some folks; they agreed.

[Robert Hall]

Cool..futuramic design.

[carstar]

how can the third pic be a Malibu/Aura MCE Center Stack when there's a 'tow' and a 'rear windshield wiper activation' button? Also it's almost the same from the Lambda MCE Center Stack with the exception of the top row of buttons and a silver finish.

[Paolino]

how can the third pic be a Malibu/Aura MCE Center Stack when there's a 'tow' and a 'rear windshield wiper activation' button? Also it's almost the same from the Lambda MCE Center Stack with the exception of the top row of buttons and a silver finish.

Well, I don't know about the "tow", but isn't the Aura supposed to get a wagon version? That would explain the rear windshield wiper button.

[ToniCipriani]

I don't like the Pontiac one too much. I would support switching Pontiac away from the red lighting.

Negative. Good they switched from the previous orangey ones, but the current pure red is fine. I like my red dash. Keeps me very focused.

But yeah, the dash they showed as the concept looks too busy and hard to read.

[PurdueGuy]

Well, I don't know about the "tow", but isn't the Aura supposed to get a wagon version? That would explain the rear windshield wiper button.

The Aura was supposed to get a Saturnized Vectra wagon, but they canceled that plan.