MAKING STARS OF CARS GM DESIGNERS GO HOLLYWOOD AUTO PRODUCER SEEKS NEW CONCEPTS AT VALLEY SITE.Byline: Jason Z. Cohen cohen or kohen (Hebrew: “priest”) Jewish priest descended from Zadok (a descendant of Aaron), priest at the First Temple of Jerusalem. The biblical priesthood was hereditary and male. Staff Writer NORTH HOLLYWOOD - Here in the shadow of some of the world's most prolific entertainment studios, another hub of creative activity is taking shape. Inside the shell of the former Orowheat bread bakery and mill, about a mile from Walt Disney and Warner Bros BROS Brothers BROS Benefits and Retirement Operations Section (King County, Washington) BROS Barnes and Richmond Operatic Society (London, UK) . studios, General Motors is beginning work on its new Southern California design center. The studio, which will employ some 30 people, is expected to begin operating in six months. The site will bustle with engineers creating designs on sophisticated three-dimensional modeling computer systems and sculptors designing automotive concepts the old-fashioned way: creating them from clay. The new design center brings back some of the creative talent behind GM's previous Southern California design center, the Advanced Concepts Center that closed in 1996. Frank Saucedo, the design center's director, contributed to GM's designs for the Geo Storm, the Chevrolet Corvette corvette, small warship, classed between a frigate and a sloop-of-war. Corvettes usually were flush-decked and carried fewer than 28 guns. They were widely employed in escorting convoys and attacking merchant ships during the great naval wars of the late 18th and and the Buick Park Avenue
The Park Avenue was Buick's flagship sedan from 1975 to 1990 as a trim level on the full size Electra and as a distinct model from 1991 to 2005, succeeding the Electra . Renewing its presence in Southern California is essential for General Motors to revive the look of its cars, said George Peterson, president of AutoPacific Inc., an automotive consulting firm in Tustin. ``Ever since they left Newbury Park, which was a substantial faux pas on their part, GM has lost touch with the California design ethic,'' Peterson said. ``GM can be criticized for the styling of cars that can at best be described as pedestrian.'' What designers are aiming for with the North Hollywood studio is anything but dull, Saucedo said. ``One of the reasons we put it here in North Hollywood is the kind of multicultural atmosphere and how close it is to the studios,'' Saucedo said. ``We wanted something that had some character - something that had some history.'' The center will focus on the future, said Wayne Cherry, GM vice president for design. Designers will be able to collaborate electronically with other GM designers in Michigan, Italy, Mexico, Austria and China, Cherry said. ``Our objective is to become the industry leader in product innovation,'' Cherry said. To do that, GM must use the design studio in North Hollywood to its full potential, Peterson said. ``GM, in the previous iteration in Newbury Park, was not used to the fullest extent of its capability,'' he said. ``It was a lifestyle-monitoring studio doing some concepts. I hope the charter for the new studio is much broader than the old studio's.'' Saucedo said the studio will be a version of GM's Corporate Brand Center in Warren, Mich., where advance concepts are created. Projects will be viewed on screens that give designers a life-size view of the cars they are creating, said Rob McCann, who will oversee the computer-aided design computer-aided design (CAD) or computer-aided design and drafting (CADD), form of automation that helps designers prepare drawings, specifications, parts lists, and other design-related elements using special graphics- and calculations-intensive studio. < WHAT CONCEPTS Major automakers have design studios scattered around the Greater San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. area. Here's the lineup: --Automaker: Volkswagen Site: Simi Valley Design Center Recent Project: New Beetle --Automaker: BMW BMW in full Bayerische Motoren Werke AG German automaker. Founded as an aircraft engine manufacturer in 1916, the company assumed the name Bayerische Motoren Werke and became known for its high-speed motorcycles in the 1920s. Site: Designworks/USA, Newbury Park Recent Projects: 3 series, 7 series --Automaker: Volvo Site: Camarillo Design Center Recent Projects: Several designs that have not been produced --Automaker: Ford Motor Co. Site: Design Center, Valencia Recent Project: 1998 Lincoln Town Car The Lincoln Town Car is a rear wheel drive full-size luxury sedan and serves as the flagship of Ford's Lincoln luxury car division. Often referred to as a traditional American luxury sedan, the Town Car features a V8 engine, rear wheel drive, very generous exterior and interior --Automaker: General Motors Corp. Site: North Hollywood Recent Project: On the drawing board Daily News Research CAPTION(S): 2 photos, box Photo: (1 -- color) General Motors Vice President Wayne Cherry shows off charts Wednesday at GM's new design center in North Hollywood. (2 -- color) A mock-up mock·up also mock-up n. 1. A usually full-sized scale model of a structure, used for demonstration, study, or testing. 2. A layout of printed matter. in foam embodies a design concept for a GMC GMC See: Guaranteed Mortgage Certificate truck. Designers plan to use computer and traditional sculpting sculpting Cosmetic surgery The surgical reshaping of a tissue. See Deep tissue sculpting, Facial sculpting. in North Hollywood. Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer Box: WHAT CONCEPTS (See text) |
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