
Ed Welburn, Vice President of Design for General Motors, has openly stated his yearning for a range-topping, performance oriented Chevrolet Cruze. The man seems to have put some thought into what he would like to see take shape, borrowing inspiring cues from the WTCC Cruze racecars, and the Cruze Z-Spec Concept by describing a Cruze with “A black exterior, butterscotch interior, a tidied-up treatment of the WTCC car’s wheel arches and air extractors in the hood… with a 2.0 turbo motor.” Continue wishing.
The first all-new Chevy Aveo has rolled off the mass-production line at GM Korea’s Bupyeong plant in Incheon, South Korea. The new Aveo — to be called Sonic in the United States — will go on sale in Korea in March and will continue its global roll-out in the following months. Continue reading.

What debuted as a boxy hatchback of controversy at the North American International Auto Show last January has been turned into a subcompact utilitarian, um, ute. Say hello to the GMC Granite CPU Concept. Continue reading.
Chevrolet has announced a demonstration project meant to “explore market needs and customer acceptance of battery electric vehicles.” As part of the project, the bow tie brand will launch a fleet of electric vehicles (EVs) based on the highly-acclaimed Chevy Cruze sedan. Continue reading.
Staying true to its renewed focus to design, build, and sell the world’s best vehicles, General Motors has announced that the opening of an Advanced Design Studio in Seoul, the capitol city of the Republic of Korea. The studio, located in Seoul’s Gangram region that’s widely considered to be the most exciting, stylish, and trendiest part of the city as well as the heart of the nation’s culture, arts, fashion, and industry, will be one of GM’s 10 global design centers.
The new Seoul studio is actually a relocation of the GM-Daewoo Design Center from Bupyeong, Incheon. It will employ 30 designers who will work on exterior and interior styling of The General’s global mini and small vehicles. The designers will also research trends in color, materials, and advanced electronics, as well as lead the way in digital design and studio engineering.
According to General Motors, the move to Seoul was sparked by a desire to enhance the design center’s function and specialty. Given that Seoul was named the World Design Capital for 2010, the decision to relocate the center makes sense to us. What the heck is the World Design Capital anyway? We knew you’d ask: according to Wikipedia, it’s a city promotion project by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design that recognizes and awards accomplishments made by cities around the world in the field of design. Italy’s Torino was awarded the title in 2008 and Finland’s Helsinki is slated to supersede Seoul in 2012. Glad we could clear that up. (more…)
