Invicta: A Product Progress Report
The Buick Invicta Concept
By Bob Lutz
GM Vice Chairman
Recently we unveiled the Buick Invicta concept car at the Beijing motor show. It was a natural choice to have the sleek concept sedan’s debut in China, where Buick is an established, respected premium luxury brand.
The Invicta is a vehicle that GM Global Product Development can be proud of on many levels, not the least of which is, I think, that it’s a beautifully designed car. It shows where Buick design is headed, both in China and in North America, and gives you a strong hint at what the next generation LaCrosse might look like.
In the big picture, to me, Invicta is symbolic of the progress we continue to make revamping GM Global Product Development and rolling out our global architecture programs. The next generation LaCrosse will share an architecture with other midsize sedans from Chevrolet, Saab, Opel/Vauxhall and others. But the key to the whole thing is … it will be very hard to tell they share the same parentage if you didn’t already know.
This is not “badge engineering.” And it goes beyond “common platforms.” This is taking the parts of the vehicle that the customer doesn’t see or come in contact with and commonizing them — and then investing the savings in the sheet metal and the interiors and the other factors that differentiate the vehicles from brand to brand. Dimensions can change, such as length and width and cowl height. Suspensions can be vastly different, changing the character and behavior of the vehicle, depending on brand. It’s all plug and play, with markedly different cars coming from the same Lego set. (Eds. Note: No real Lego pieces are used.)
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Posted at 11:13 AM
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VIDEO: Buick Invicta Concept at Beijing Auto Show
GM CEO Rick Wagoner and Vice President Ed Welburn Jr. introduce the Buick Invicta concept vehicle last week during the Beijing Auto Show. - Will Stewart, blog editor
Posted at 10:38 AM
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Join Our Saturn Social Network
By Jill Lajdziak
Saturn General Manager
At Saturn, we've always liked to think of ourselves as innovators -- from our products to our unique customers. In that spirit, we are proud to offer Saturn owners and enthusiasts a new to way interact with us and with each other.
It’s a first-of-its-kind blog and social network site, www.ImSaturn.com.
On ImSaturn.com, you’ll find news about Saturn and see photos and videos you haven’t seen anywhere else. You can also start your own blog or your own group, or join other groups, and upload your own photos and videos.
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Posted at 5:44 PM
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VIDEO: Volt Nation Town Hall Meeting
Here's some interesting footage courtesy of Volt Nation from a Q&A Bob Lutz did at last month's VN conference in New York. - Will Stewart, blog editor.
Posted at 3:27 PM
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Thank You, Citizens of Volt Nation
By Bob Lutz
GM Vice Chairman
This is a little late coming, but I just wanted to take the time and space to officially thank everyone who traveled to New York, some from fairly far away, for the Volt Nation event at the auto show there last month.
And I’d like to thank Dr. Lyle Dennis, the foundation of Volt Nation, for organizing such a great event, and for his boundless enthusiasm. In fact, all the attendees were rather enthusiastic, and we are very appreciative of that, and of their rabid interest in the Volt program.
As I told the group assembled there in New York, the Volt team feeds off their enthusiasm, it’s a great motivator for us.
Not that we need any extra push to get going on the project. The team continues to make progress, and we continue to be committed to seeing the program through. As I said in New York, we are going to get this done — we are not going to be beaten to the punch like we were on hybrids.
I told the Volt Nation audience that GM had the technology to do hybrids back when Toyota was launching the first Prius, but we opted not to ask the Board to approve a product program that’d be destined to lose hundreds of millions of dollars. In the end, it cost us much more than that; it cost us our reputation for technology leadership and innovation.
We made that mistake once. We won’t make it again. I think the whole company has learned when you step out and do bold things, you win and when you're cautious and let other people do the bold things, you lose.
Many great ideas die every day because we value the safety of the tried-and-true over the risk that true innovation requires. This is not going to be the case with Volt; we are going for the brass ring.
Further updates to come, but thanks again to Dr. Dennis and Volt Nation for their support.
Posted at 3:50 PM
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