Adopting a philosophy that it is far better, and certainly less costly, to have the public give a thumbs down to a concept car than a production model, General Motors will ask consumers to serve as judge and jury over nine vehicles it will unveil on the 2000 auto-show circuit starting in January.
For the second year in a row, GM will take concepts out of hiding in its design studios and display them at auto shows to gauge consumer reaction and determine whether to build the cars or stuff them in the recycling bin.
This year, GM brought out five concepts, the Cadillac Evoq roadster, Pontiac Aztek sport-utility, Chevrolet Nomad performance sedan, Oldsmobile Recon mini-van and Buick Cielo retractable hardtop convertible.
As reported, Evoq (2002) and Aztek (an early 2001) have been given production approval while Cielo is undergoing last-minute refinement while being thisclose to an okay. Recon and Nomad got the thumbs down.
“Jack Smith (GM chairman), Harry Pearce (vice chairman), and Rick Wagoner (president) have directed that 50 percent of our new products have to be innovative and 50 percent momentum generated whereas it used to be that only 5 percent of our new vehicles were innovative,” said Wayne Cherry, GM’s vice president of design, while taking the media on a tour of the automaker’s design center for an early peek at the Nifty Nine for the 2000 show circuit.
Cherry noted that “innovative” is a third door on the Saturn coupe, and “momentum generated” is restyling the long successful full-size Chevy truck for ’99 and calling it Silverado.
In other words, there’s been no Viper, Prowler, Beetle or TT coupe from GM.
“In the last 10 years, we’ve had one innovative product, the EV1 electric car,” Wagoner told us while touring the design studios.
Delf Dodge, director of product and technology concepts at GM’s design center, was equally blunt.
“Ten years ago, you wouldn’t see any concepts like these because we felt we dictated the future and our philosophy was `If we build it, they will come,’ ” she told us.
General Motors will unveil its nine concepts on a staggered basis. The Saturn CV1 and Olds Profile will bow at the Los Angeles show in January; the Buick LaCrosse, GMC Terradyne, Opel CVC and Chevrolet SSR at the Detroit show a week later; the Pontiac Piranha and Chevrolet Traverse at the Chicago show in February; and the Cadillac 2000 in Geneva in March.
The vehicles from the L.A. and Detroit shows will be shipped to Chicago to join the Traverse and Piranha, but Chicago will not see the Cadillac 2000 Concept. The first time all nine will be together will be at the New York Auto Show in April.
All nine concepts fall are innovative category, Wagoner said, who pointed out that they were culled from 300 concepts in various stage of development.
Here’s a brief rundown on what you’ll see at the auto shows:
SATURN CV1
The first concept from Saturn looks like a station wagon with lots of large windows.
“We’re using it to set the stage and help the public get ready for different vehicles in the future,” said Kate Zak, brand character design manager.
Saturn will offer its first SUV for 2002 built off the compact S-Series wagon platform, with speculation that a larger SUV built off the same midsize L-wagon platform as this concept would follow a few years later.
In regular configuration, the CV1 seats five. A pair of jump seats that fold down out of the front seat backs expand seating to seven. All but the driver’s seat folds flat to increase cargo room.
Rear side doors are a bifold design. Open the doors and slide them forward for access to the rear cargo hold or slide them backward for easier passenger access into the rear seat or to store a wheelchair. (Unlike mini-van doors, which can be cumbersome, all the concepts’ sliding doors move out from the body for easier operation.)
CV1 comes with “smart” front and side air bags whose deployment and speed is determined by whether an adult or child is in the seat and whether the occupant is belted or not.
Like the 2000 Toyota ECHO, the instrument panel is moved from in front of the driver to the center of the dash.
OLDSMOBILE PROFILE
Supercharged, all-wheel-drive, five-passenger hatchback sedan is larger than Intrigue, smaller than Aurora.
Power rear doors slide backward for a wider entry space as well as for easier movement in and out of the car in tight parking spaces that don’t allow swing-out doors to open fully. The door design benefits families with kids and older motorists.
The rear seat slides back to increase rear-seat legroom or folds flat into the floor to increase cargo capacity. There’s also a power rear liftgate for easier cargo loading.
Profile has voice-activated controls, Internet access via satellite, Global Positioning System navigation with real-time traffic information, e-mail and an audio library so you can listen to books rather than the radio.
Computers automatically adjust shock and strut settings as well as vehicle attitude and activate traction control when needed to maximize ride, handling and stability.
BUICK LACROSSE
After what seems like forever, the V-8 returns in a Buick–as well as a clamshell hood design that opens from the side, not the front. Styling borrows from the Buick Y-Job of 1941, GM’s first concept car.
LaCrosse also marks the return of a series of portholes, or “ventiports” as they were called, along the hood, a styling cue last used in the late ’70s when critics called them liver spots on an aging car line.
Without exterior door handles, this four-door hatchback looks more like a coupe. (Press the key fob, and the door pops open.) Could be an early peek at the future Park Avenue, though perhaps with a different name.
The hatch lid opens and slides up and over the roof, while the rear portion of the roof also slides up and forward (the front of the roof dips slightly to make room for the sliding panels), the tailgate slides down and under the vehicle and the rear seats fold flat in the floor to transform LaCrosse into a cargo carrier with an open truck bed.
The front doors open from the center and slide forward, the rear doors open from the center and slide rearward for ease of entry or exit.
Other than a clock, there are no visible switches, dials, knobs or control levers in the cabin. Instead, a computer track ball or mouse-like device in the center console works all vehicle systems except throttle, brakes and steering.
All controls are voice-activated. Want the windows down? Say “windows” and the “controls” needed to power the glass are projected onto the head-up display (HUD) in the bottom of the windshield. You then move the track ball or mouse to give the command to raise or lower the windows.
GMC TERRADYNE
This full-size pickup has a “mega cab” that seats five adults and a short cargo box. It’s a job-site “workhorse” that serves as a “family” vehicle on weekends.
To eliminate the problem of getting into or out of a full-size truck when someone parks too close and traditional swing-out doors won’t fully open, Terradyne’s front door glides forward, its rear door glides rearward and a running board drops down to give you a convenient step in or out.
The cargo bed is only 6 1/2 feet long, but press the release handles and a 1 1/2-foot bed extension pulls out like a dresser drawer. Cargo bed walls also contain built-in storage boxes for tools or fishing gear.
Other noteworthy touches include a rear monitoring video system to eliminate blind spots, power outside mirrors that also extend outward when needed for trailer towing and an on-board 5,000-watt generator with 110- and 220-volt outlets in the tailgate should you need electricity at the worksite or campsite.
OPEL CVC
The concept from GM’s European subsidiary will never be sold here but has some cute features worth noting, such as heated cupholders for hot chocolate and a plastic sheet integrated in the rear hatchlid that can be pulled out to serve as a toboggan–and justify the hot chocolate cupholders.
CHEVROLET SSR
Car or a truck? Though it’s built off the S-10 pickup platform, Chevy calls it a roadster with more function. In the design center, it’s the vehicle being touted.
Cabin width has been expanded and the gearshift lever moved from the floor console to the steering column to allow room for two adults and a child seat between them.
SSR features a power retractable hardtop that lifts, folds and slides into hiding in front of the tonneau-covered pickup bed.
“We considered adding rear seats, but that’s not what this vehicle is about,” said Ed Welburn, brand character designer, pointing to the 6-liter V-8 aimed at making this primarily a high-performance roadster with truck functionality.
Note that the S-10 is due soon for a styling remake, and SSR could be a low-volume, high-profit niche vehicle in the S-10 stable, somewhat like Ford offering an Explorer Sport Trac for 2001, an Explorer SUV with a pickup bed.
“This isn’t a reply to Sport Trac, this is a reply to those who love roadsters,” Welburn said.
CHEVROLET TRAVERSE
An all-wheel-drive utility truck offshoot of the S-10, noteworthy because it looks a lot like the Blazer, which also is built off the S-10 platform and which comes up for a styling remake for 2001.
The rear seats slide 7 1/2 inches forward or backward or fold flat into the floor depending on whether you need more leg or cargo room.
Chevy calls it a concept all-wheel-drive family car powered by a 4.5-liter V-6 with a little more oomph than the 4.3-liter V-6 now offered in Blazer.
It features a liftgate (you might call it a hatchlid) and a tailgate in back that drops down to ease loading and unloading. Joel Piaskowski, brand character design manager, says Traverse “levels the playing field between cars and trucks and is a vehicle that bridges the gap between car and truck.”
PONTIAC PIRANHA
So what would happen if you stopped building the subcompact Sunfire sedan and Firebird coupe but wanted a small affordable vehicle to attract youth?
The answer, Piranha, is built on the Sunfire platform, but powered by a supercharged 2.2-liter 4-cylinder engine and features wide tracking for optimum handling. John Mack, brand character design manager for Pontiac, calls Piranha “a small package with a big bite.”
Piranha seats four. A pair of rear access doors similar to the single rear access door on the Saturn three-door coupe, serves rear-seat occupants.
Piranha converts from sports coupe to sports truck for active youth wanting a multipurpose vehicle. Open the hatch lid and lower the tailgate and you can remove the “trunk cargo carrier,” a plastic container that serves as a “trunk,” although carrying case may be a better term.
The carrier can be converted into a table and comes with handles and wheels so you can take it with you.
With the cargo carrier removed, the hatchlid can be folded and the tailgate pulled out by three feet and flipped up to convert the space into a mini truck bed.
Other noteworthy features include a glass dome over the rear seat that looks like a spoiler but serves to provide headroom for rear-seat occupants; all but the driver’s seat can be folded flat or removed to increase cargo capacity; and the floor is covered in a rubberized material so you can hose it clean after dirt biking.
Mack said the target is “to keep the price down around $15,000.”
CADILLAC 2000
No concept moniker, but sources say this sedan will be the 2004 rendition of the Seville when it goes into production.
The luxury sedan sports a front end similar to that on the Evoq roadster coming out in 2002 as well as a hint of the bustle-back rear end Caddy used on the Seville in the mid-’80s.
Noteworthy features include reclining and ventilated front and rear seats; power adjustable brake/gas pedals that move to the driver rather than forcing short drivers to move the seat too close to the steering column housing the air bag; Internet access at all four seating positions; glass roof with individual panels that lift and tilt for ventilation and rear doors that swing open from the middle of the car outward.
But the most noteworthy feature is a fingerprint identification system. Press your thumb against a door pad to verify your print ID to unlock the door and, once inside, press your thumb against another pad to start the car.
In a divorce, death or trade-in, “the thumbprint would be reprogrammable,” assured Caddy spokesman Chris Pruess.
