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August 16, 2002 - General Motors has unveiled sketches for five concept vehicles to be displayed at North American auto shows in 2003. The Pontiac G6, Chevrolet SS, Chevrolet Cheyenne, Buick Centurion and Chevrolet Journey were unveiled Tuesday, August 13th, at the automaker's Global Product Seminar. The four-day seminar, which concluded Wednesday, brought top GM designers and decision-makers together from around the world to highlight models GM has in production or its design pipeline.
The concepts further GM’s efforts, under the eye of product czar and Vice-President Bob Lutz, to develop products that are exciting and desirable. "We're working to fill the gaps with 'gotta-have' products," Lutz said. As was the case with the 2002 concepts, the question of whether these vehicles will make it into consumers hands or not, was already being considered by GM execs. Wayne Cherry, GM's design chief, when asked about the possibility of production for these concepts said, “I'm excited about all of them, and obviously, the ones that create an enormous amount of enthusiasm among the media and public go to the top of the list in terms of getting into the marketplace."
The Pontiac G6 concept is a four-door, four-passenger car with the look, feel and attitude of a sports coupe. With its supercharged V-6 engine and all-wheel-drive capability, the concept is a driving machine that reaffirms Pontiac’s performance heritage. It carries forward the clean bodyside and detailing introduced on Pontiac’s Solstice concept roadster. Like the Solstice, the G6 has a voluptuous, curved profile highlighted with a sharp crease running from front to back, in this case running high on the bodyside. This helps break up the visual mass of the body and keeps the lean side glass from being overwhelmed visually. The front grille shares a family 'look and feel' with the Solstice and utilizes a similar, handsome, perforated metal pattern insert. Below this are split lower air intakes with the now familiar Pontiac wide set driving/fog lamps. The interior is dominated by a swoopy center console, which separates the four sculpted, individual bucket seats. Also prominent are the rear headrests , which are integrated into the rear seats like some open cockpit sports cars from the 1950’s. Black and Rust colored materials abound with some bright accents on the console, instrument panel and doors to denote areas with controls.
The 2003 Chevrolet SS concept is a modern interpretation of Chevy’s Super Sport heritage. A contemporary four-door family sedan turned sports car, the SS packs rear-wheel drive with a small-block V-8, high-performance suspension and brakes to match. Similar to the Pontiac in general layout and proportion, the SS comes across as a very different car. Although the detailing is clean, the fender forms are large, flowing and very dramatic. The main body sits within the fenders, but is well integrated with them. Features such as a horizontal bar at the front and quad round lamps at the rear continue the most distinctive brand cues as seen on recent production models. One unusual detail is the hood shutline, which is both very narrow and set right at the tangent of the forms on which it rests. The interior of the SS, like the exterior, is an attractive blend of modern, clean surfacing and heritage cues. The two-tone color scheme is both contemporary and classic, especially with the polished aluminum brightwork. The instrument cluster is reminiscent of some 50’s Chevys, with it’s pie-shape, while the center console and controls are decidedly futuristic.
The 2003 Chevrolet Cheyenne full-size pickup concept updates the cargo box area with features designed to appeal both to long-time truck owners and consumers considering their first truck. Features include dual bed-access doors, hidden storage bins beneath floor and sidewalls, and a dual-folding tailgate that opens fully for complete and quick access to the bed. The Cheyenne appears to push pickup styling more towards a modern family sedan with softer, rounder forms and little in the way of the 'rugged' add-on cladding as seen previously on Chevy’s Avalanche. The interior’s appearance has more truck-like forms, suggesting that it would see hard duty but the materials look more like todays upscale SUV’s.
The 2003 Buick Centurion concept takes Buick’s standard for style, ride and comfort to a new dimension. The concept is a premium, distinctive crossover vehicle that combines the best features of a sedan and sport utility vehicle. It’s exterior is round and graceful, a continuing evolution of Buicks other recent show cars; the Bengal, LaCrosse and Cielo. At the front, the grill is a narrow version of Buick’s 'waterfall', while the headlamps sweep sharply up the sides of the vehicle. The nicely proportioned sides of the Centurian are relatively uncluttered with just a simple chrome rub strip and door handles to break it up. The DLO is very round, in keeping with the flavor of the rest of the vehicle and Buick brand character. The interior comes across as rich, sumptuous and very classy. The full width IP theme of past Buick concepts remains intact but evolves by doing away with some of the other cars automated, voice-activated controls. One feature that stands out are the high bolsters on the inboard sides of each seat. Perhaps for side impact hip protection?
Finally, the Chevrolet Journey concept, developed by GM do Brasil’s Design & Engineering Center combines the attributes of an SUV and a station wagon in one compact package. To be introduced at the Sao Paulo Auto Show this fall, the all-wheel-drive Journey sports a purposeful, athletic design and features three rows of versatile seating.
Though it’s tough to make the call until these vehicles can be seen in the flesh, it would appear that GM might have another round of winners on it’s hands.
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