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This collaboration between GM design in Detroit and Shanghai explores what a future LaCrosse midsize sedan might look like. Riding on a 114.5-in. wheelbase, the Invicta concept is powered by a turbocharged direct-injected 2.0-liter four making 250 bhp and 220 lb.-ft. of torque. It is mated to a 6-speed automatic transmission.

The design language on the Invicta is pure Buick, from its large, shield-shaped waterfall grille to the ventiports, which have been moved from the fenders onto the hood. The 4-door sedan has sharp, yet flowing character lines, including one that describes the classic Buick sweep spear cue on the car’s flanks. The high beltline and low greenhouse give the Invicta a muscular stance.

The exterior’s flowing lines are carried over to the interior, where the door panels, dashboard and center console are melded in a seamless wraparound design that gives the front seating area a dual-cockpit look. The cabin has an upscale feel thanks to wood and aluminum accents and LED ambient lighting.

The 5-passenger Invicta measures 194.2 in. in overall length, rides on 20-in. wheels and tires and has a fully independent suspension with 4-wheel disc brakes. The Invicta name was originally introduced by Buick in 1959 and used until the 1962 model year.

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Got a 400,000-mile Festiva? Have you been dying to replace it with a similarly sized—and similarly fuel efficient—Ford? For the past few years, you’ve been out of luck, since Ford pulled out of the tiny-car biz (also known as the B-segment) a number of years back.

But the winds, they are a-changin’. Ford is finally ready to once again offer a small car for U.S. and Canadian buyers, and the proof is in the Verve concept pudding. (And also the fact that we’ve been told to expect such a car from the Blue Oval folks themselves.)

Debuting at next month’s Frankfurt auto show, the Verve concept (we’re told the name is for the show car only) actually presages not one car, but at least three. Besides the Frankfurt concept, “regionally tailored” versions of the Verve will appear at an auto show in China in November and the Detroit auto show in January. Production of the B-car will commence by 2010 at plants on the continents where the various concepts debuted: Asia, Europe, and North America. U.S. dealers should expect ‘10 models sometime in 2009.

All three cars will share basic architecture with the new Mazda 2, which bowed at this year’s Geneva auto show. As announced in April at the Shanghai auto show, the Chinese version of the car—also called the Mazda 2, but styled differently—will go into production by early next year. North America may not get the Mazda.

As for the Verve concept itself, the wedgy runabout fell to the European arm of Ford’s global product development team to engineer for the Blue Oval. It wears Ford of Europe’s “kinetic design” philosophy well, with an aggressively upswept beltline and long, drawn-back headlamps implying levels of speed the small car would likely never reach.

The huge, huge, huge lower grille—that will make its way to other future Euro Fords—looks large enough to feed air to a Ferrari V-12, but we’re gonna go out on a limb here and boldly insist that the Verve is powered by many fewer cylinders. (Ford doesn’t actually say what powertrain—if any—is in the concept.)

Inside, Ford used mobile phones as inspiration for an aggressively modern center stack built around Ford of Europe’s Convers+ interface, which, in the latest Mondeo, allows for centralized control of the car’s audio, telephone, and cruise-control systems via simple steering-wheel-mounted buttons.

The cockpit’s varied colors and materials and its upmarket, high-tech feel are amazing. If Ford translates this into an interior for American buyers that doesn’t use plastics pulled from the reject bin at a Chinese factory for knock-off decoder rings, we’ll be pretty happy. We aren’t, however, holding our collective breath.

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Trim Levels
Base: LT
Mid-level: Z06
Up-level: SS

Introduction

The Corvette; such an iconic GM vehicle. It’s the car that everyone loves, and has a place in the hearts and minds of millions of people around the world. It’s Chevrolet’s equivalent of the 911, and the two vastly different cars are often compared head to head as ideological opposites. The car that can compare with rivals costing far more; .that car is the Corvette. And that’s the car we had the task of redesigning, quite possibly the hardest of all the RIA cars we have done before. Our hardest vehicle, in the hardest lineup. Efforts in this lineup have culminated with, and in our idea of what the next generation C7 Corvette should be.
In this RIA, our C7 Corvette’s styling follows an more evolutionary, rather then revolutionary path. Overall the car is much more emotional and dramatic, with a more planted stance and low-slung look. Things like a swooping downward character line add drama and excitement to the car, while still retaining that unmistakable Corvette look.

We followed the mantra of “don’t mess with success” in hammering out the details on the C7, especially in regards to price. The Corvette is an attainable supercar, and that’s something that shouldn’t be changed. The LT starts at $47,150 and bumps up the horsepower from current C6 levels to 450HP. And, as is the case now, is available in a few different packages, 1LT, 2LT and 3LT. Z06, which starts at $70,250, increases the HP level to 600HP from it’s 7.0L LS7 V8. A new addition to the model line is the “Super Corvette”, which we have called the Corvette SS. The Corvette SS, starting at $115,000, has a supercharged version of the engine, making 850HP. The SS also adds features like ceramic brakes, something GM has opted out of the current car because of the over $10k cost. The price has been brought down though, however and it’s a feature that certainly should be present on the very best of Corvettes.
Lots of debate on where to take the Corvette, both in RIA and inside GM. Some have said to take the Corvette mid-engine. That’s the worst course of action because it destroys the very essence of the Corvette in that it’s an attainable supercar. In price as well as styling, future Corvettes should stick to the principles that made it what it is. A mid-engined vehicle has it’s place at Cadillac, but not as a Corvette. Our proposed C7 Corvette arrives around the time of the production vehicle, in 2010 as a 2011 model.
Specifications Sheet

Vehicle Type: Large 2-Door 2-Passenger Sports Car
Size Comparison: Current Corvette
Competitors: In a Class of it’s Own
Base Platform: GM Y-Body
Drive Wheels: RWD
Engines:
LT: 6.2L 450HP LS3 V8 - Starting at $47,150
Z06: 7.0L 600HP LS7 V8 - Starting at $70,250
SS: 6.2L 750HP Supercharged LS9 V8 - Starting at $115,000
Transmissions: 6 speed Automatic (Optional: LT/Z06/SS), 6 speed manual (Standard: LT/Z06/SS)

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Trim Levels
Base: LS
Mid-level: LT,
Up-level: LTZ, SS

Introduction

With the Malibu and Caprice being positioned to fill the spot (and sales) held by the current FWD Impala, the next generation model is freed to move up market and onto the Zeta RWD platform. This allows for the car to draw on the heritage and goodwill of the Impala name by going retro in it’s look and advertising. This car is squarely positioned to go head to head with the Chrysler 300C. It’s big, bold and uniquely American. While this is an impractical approach to take for the whole Chevrolet lineup as some would like, we thought it suitable for the brand to have one large RWD sedan. That car is the Impala.

In the inside, a balance is struck between retro and modern. There’s a metallic/black piano wood center stack with navigation and modern switchgear. The lighting color selected for this interior is cool blue and prominent throughout the interior. Thin blue LED light piping is found on the center stack and on the edges of the metallic door panel pulls. Some of the innovative things done here in this interior is the retro-style door/dash joining which echoes how it was done in the past, especially during the 1960’s.
One of the concerns of a RWD Impala was CAF�. A RWD Impala would get worse fuel economy numbers then the FWD model. Mileage is a now a very big factor in GM’s new vehicle development programs, and this was a concern that had to be addressed. As such the Impala uses the Dual Mode hybrid system, mated to a detuned 3.6L 250HP HF V6/w Direct Injection. This will achieve some very good fuel economy numbers helping to offset the minimal increases by the other models in the line. The base model Impala, LS, starts at $29,450 and is powered by GM’s 3.6L HF making 265HP. Moving up to the LTZ, you get the same engine, making 35 more HP. No Impala lineup would be complete without an outrageous SS model. And the Impala SS is that car, powered by the 7.0L 550HP LS7 V8 found in the C7 Corvette.

This car has been the subject of much internal debate at GM as to it’s future. As well as in the minds of those on GMI, their future has been debated with much passion. Impala is certainly a car that (to a much lesser degree however) has an enthusiast base like the Camaro. Given this, we decided to make an compromise that would please fans, critics and mainstream consumers alike. Our Impala arrives in 2009 as a 2010 model, alongside the Aveo and Beat.

Specifications Sheet

Vehicle Type: Full-Size 4-Door RWD Sedan
Size Comparison: Chrysler 300C
Competitors: Dodge Magnum, Chrysler 300C
Base Platform: Zeta
Drive Wheels: RWD
Engines:
LS: 3.6L 250HP HF V6
LT: 3.6L 285HP HF V6
Hybrid: 3.6L 250HP Detuned HF V6 w/Dual Mode Hybrid System
LTZ: 3.6L 315HP HF V6 w/DI Optional: 6.0L 385HP V8
SS: 7.0L 505HP LS7 V8
Transmissions: 6 Speed Automatic (Standard: LS/ LT/LTZ/SS), DSG 6 (Optional: SS)

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