GM is continuing to push ahead with a company reinvention and in an unprecedented move, has created The Lab blog to post concept work from the design studios online. Two concepts have just been added which are results of an ECOinitiative project aimed at understanding and developing greener transportation alternatives. The two concepts explore the theme of the ‘Bare Necessity’ which as GM Designer Therese Tant writes is a back-to basics approach, less is more, less cost, less complexity = efficiency.

The Bare Necessity Truck looks at making utility vehicles smaller and more efficient. The design team’s idea was to have [...]

The auto bailout talks opened up an opportunity for much criticism of the quality of design coming out of the Big 3 in Detroit. The problems cited ranged from bland styling to a general perception of a lack of innovative thinking.
GM seems to have taken the comments to heart and have just launched a new website called Chevrolet Design to reveal the creative process within the design studio and to feature concept development work. GM Europe is behind the development of the site. Longtime GM designer Tom Peters serves as the narrator and talks about the established design language and [...]

A recent article in the New York Times gives some insight into how companies take their eye off the ball and slow down their innovation. In this piece Micheline Maynard argues that the Chrysler automotive company decided to listen more to the accountants than the staff who were tasked to drive the company into the future:
G.M.’s biggest failing, reflected in a clear pattern over recent decades, has been its inability to strike a balance between those inside the company who pushed for innovation ahead of the curve, and the finance executives who worried more about returns on investment.
The two views [...]