AirStrike
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Leading Australian car designer Mike Simcoe has given the first hints about the design of the much-anticipated all-new 2006 VE Commodore.
Simcoe has just been headhunted from Holden to GM headquarters in the US and spoke last week of the yet-to-be-unveiled Commodore before his departure. The man responsible for the Monaro says the revolutionary new VE – a car set to change the destiny of Holden in Australia – was his favourite project at Holden.
"You haven't seen it yet. It's probably my favourite project because it's been a vehicle that has been generated not even vaguely related to anyone else's architecture. It's an architecture and a vehicle that is proportional.
"All the building blocks were designed and invented here and it will be 100 per cent Australian – and it's already got the rest of the world intrigued.
"The Monaro was a great project and a great experience ... but it was a version of a vehicle. The VE is much bigger than that. The VE is absolutely controlling our own destiny and designing the vehicle that we wanted, so at that level it is much more important," he says.
The next model Commodore, the updated VZ, is set to be launched this October. Simcoe, meanwhile, will take up the role of Executive Director of Design, Body Frame Integral Architectures at GM's headquarters next month.
He will be in charge of the exterior design of all North American products – cars, crossovers and whatever doesn't have frames, cars such as Pontiac, Chevrolet and Buick, along with Cadillac. In a country where SUVs and pick-up trucks are the vehicles of choice, Simcoe's experience of passenger car design will be invaluable.
Currently Simcoe is in charge of 140 GM employees. That will jump to 1500 in his new role. Despite the job being only for three years, Simcoe feels it will be closer to five before all-new products reflecting his influence will be released.
He says he had previously knocked the US job back to finish Holden projects.
"There was stuff that still needed to be done at holden," he says. "It sounds silly. (But) it was as simple as that, the VE was well and truly being cooked at that stage and it would have been silly to walk out of the place."
In between Simcoe was the Executive Director GM Asia-Pacific Design.
Simcoe has just been headhunted from Holden to GM headquarters in the US and spoke last week of the yet-to-be-unveiled Commodore before his departure. The man responsible for the Monaro says the revolutionary new VE – a car set to change the destiny of Holden in Australia – was his favourite project at Holden.
"You haven't seen it yet. It's probably my favourite project because it's been a vehicle that has been generated not even vaguely related to anyone else's architecture. It's an architecture and a vehicle that is proportional.
"All the building blocks were designed and invented here and it will be 100 per cent Australian – and it's already got the rest of the world intrigued.
"The Monaro was a great project and a great experience ... but it was a version of a vehicle. The VE is much bigger than that. The VE is absolutely controlling our own destiny and designing the vehicle that we wanted, so at that level it is much more important," he says.
The next model Commodore, the updated VZ, is set to be launched this October. Simcoe, meanwhile, will take up the role of Executive Director of Design, Body Frame Integral Architectures at GM's headquarters next month.
He will be in charge of the exterior design of all North American products – cars, crossovers and whatever doesn't have frames, cars such as Pontiac, Chevrolet and Buick, along with Cadillac. In a country where SUVs and pick-up trucks are the vehicles of choice, Simcoe's experience of passenger car design will be invaluable.
Currently Simcoe is in charge of 140 GM employees. That will jump to 1500 in his new role. Despite the job being only for three years, Simcoe feels it will be closer to five before all-new products reflecting his influence will be released.
He says he had previously knocked the US job back to finish Holden projects.
"There was stuff that still needed to be done at holden," he says. "It sounds silly. (But) it was as simple as that, the VE was well and truly being cooked at that stage and it would have been silly to walk out of the place."
In between Simcoe was the Executive Director GM Asia-Pacific Design.
