"Shackles are off" says GM design boss

Cars are going to look very different in the coming years.

The wider acceptance of electric powertrains will usher in a new era of car design, perhaps the biggest since the invention of the car itself.

That is the view of Mike Simcoe, the Australian head of global design for General Motors, who discussed the future of car design at this week's 2017 Detroit motor show where the new Chevrolet Bolt EV was one of the stars.

Simcoe believes the move away from internal combustion engines to electric, fuel cell and autonomous vehicles has the potential to fundamentally change the way designers shape cars. Smaller electric motors and flatter battery packs, which do away with the need for traditional underbody structures will open up areas for designers to play with the look of cars, he says.

"If you think about a platform, battery and a propulsion system that fits inside the diameter of the wheel and you can locate that pretty much anywhere in the vehicle, the rest is pretty much top-hatting the vehicle," Simcoe explained. "You can change proportion, high, low, whatever."

Asked if this would be the biggest change in the history of car design, Simcoe was candid.  

"That depends how well we do our job, but potentially yes," he said.

Simcoe rose through the ranks of General Motors from Holden, where he famously created the Commodore Coupe concept that was the catalyst for the revived Monaro, and has worked in senior positions in the US and South Korea, before taking over the top role early in 2016.

His new role means he oversees designs for all General Motors vehicles around the world, as well as setting the future direction for the company.

The potential for major change means he is relishing his new role.

"There's a lot more work being done on the left-hand side of the business, in advanced [design] at that point unbranded, around electrification, autonomous, fuel cell and everything else in the propulsion world that's changing," he said.

"The big deal is that right now it's a great time to be in the business because it's the first major pivot point in the way vehicles have been considered by customers and the industry itself. Legislation is driving it in a lot of cases but we're trying to get ahead of that. Electrification or propulsion systems are located differently in the car, they are different sizes, batteries give you different challenges, new materials, structural changes, so the proportions of the vehicle can change quite a lot. So where we've been locked in for some time the shackles are off."

But with so much change possible how does Simcoe avoid going too far and creating designs customers won't like?

"Our job is to talk to customers and understand what they will and won't like," he explained.

"Not where they want us to go, but there are points of tension and things that give them pleasure and we work with that. Do we know where we're going to be in 20 or 30 years time? No."

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