GM's Design Drive Hits the Road

By refreshing its lineup with new interiors, the No. 1 carmaker aims to win over consumers with quality and fend off its rival for the top spot, Toyota

by Matt Vella

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Kate Zak, General Motors' director of global component strategy, stands under moody spotlights in front of three disembodied steering wheels, talking about the importance of a proper "handshake." The interactions in question—the tactile experience of hands on a gear shift, a windshield wiper stalk, or a steering wheel—are minute, and, it turns out, inextricably linked to drivers' impressions of a car's overall quality. "We've found that these handshake components—their feel, their sound, their actuation—really are for customers an indicator for the entire vehicle, windows of insight into the car," says Zak.

After inviting the small group of journalists with whom she's speaking to poke and prod the steering wheels behind her, she moves on to another set of dislocated auto components in a dim room punctuated by design displays swathed in contrapuntal light. The traveling salon is part of a GM (GM) campaign to put its designers—and the work inside the Warren (Mich.) Design Center—front and center.

The company is trying to show that it too knows how to innovate, and that the products of a long-term, design-driven revitalization are at last ready for prime time. Dave Rand, GM's executive director of interior design, says, "We don't have to keep making promises, we feel we have something we can show."

Countering Rivals with Style

The world's biggest auto maker is in a highly publicized dogfight with Toyota (TM), a company with a sterling reputation for innovation as well surging sales that could catapult it into the No. 1 position globally sometime this year. That leaves GM and its stable of eight auto brands warring on two related fronts: the first, staving off Japanese competition while attempting to cut costs at its varied divisions, which range from Saturn to Hummer; the second, fighting for relevance and quality in the eyes of consumers.

Now the company has begun showing products aimed at clawing back lost territory. A new version of Cadillac's flagship sports sedan, for example, features a "cut-and-sew" process by which coverings on the instrument panel, center console, and door trim are cut, sewn, and wrapped by hand, allowing for sartorial flourishes such as French stitching. It's the kind of detailing light years away from recent GM products. "We've learned the difference between what is expensive and what looks expensive," says Rand.

According to Rand, these new products stem from a corporate edict issued four years ago by Bob Lutz, the company's vice-chairman for global product development. The Lutz decree elevated design at large to primary status, increasing its budget and giving designers more power in decision-making. Additionally, the initiative gave equal importance to exterior and interior design—a first for the company, since the latter had previously been subordinate to body design. "We were extremely liberated," says Rand.

"Black Tie" Components

Rand and his design team went to work, charged with transforming the company's interiors. Many GM products had been maligned by auto analysts and consumers for being seas of sexless hard plastics and flimsy components. Taking cues from furniture, jewelry, and graphic design, the GM team started with the basics: audio and climate controls, instrument clusters, seats, and even keys.

The first generation of new dash components—knobs, switches, buttons, and radio and climate controls—was dubbed "black tie," as in elegant and goes with everything. These elements—not the dashboard forms themselves but the components that populate them—could be used in Cadillac models as well as less expensive Chevrolets.

The idea, according to Zak, was to give components a weight and level of detailing noticeably more refined than previous products, and to distribute those improvements across the company's many brands.