Meet the Brit who designs General Motors pick-ups After taking the design prize at Autocar's Great British Women awards, Helen Emsley chats about her success working as the head of design at GMC by Autocar
20 August 2016 Autocar.co.uk
When Yorkshire-born Helen Emsley heard she’d been given the task of designing the interior of one of America’s most iconic sports cars, she joked to her boss: “I can see the headlines now: ‘British woman kills Corvette’.”
But she did no such thing. Instead, she improved the cabin of the 2014 Corvette Stingray and was promoted to one of the most unlikely jobs you’d expect a British woman to be holding: head of design at GMC.
If you’ve not heard of GMC, that’s understandable. It’s the brand within General Motors that builds SUVs and pick-up trucks so American in their size and visual toughness that they’re barely sold outside the US.
When we interviewed Emsley at Autocar’s recent gathering in London to hail Britain’s most influential women working in the automotive industry (Emsley won the design category), she told us she’s about to be named head of design for another GM brand, while still keeping GMC. Buick? Chevrolet? She wouldn’t say.
That's interesting. I wonder what the "other brand" will be? I think GMC needs as stand alone design brand chief so as to better distinguish their products from Chevrolet and other brands. The only possible exception to this would be for her to be the design boss for Wuling. I could see an "alignment" of GMC and Wuling, much in the same way that Buick and Opel have a kind of alignment. If GM were to give GMC a larger global role, then it some markets outside of China, an expanded GMC lineup could yoke Wuling's offerings to fill a gap in the lower end of the lineup. Perhaps this is what they have in mind?
Hey Helen, take some of the blocky look off the trucks. I get the mind share that 'blocky = tough = truck' but a few curves can be tough too (see Ram...IMO the best styled truck exterior). GM's and Ford's trucks are too square.
If she's doing a good job (which as the owner of a Sierra, I believe she is) that's great, but if someone is hired just for diversity's sake, I have a problem with that.
2001 F150 was one of the worst vehicles I ever owned. Left me stranded all over the country. When it wasn't on the shoulder waiting for a tow truck it did an otherwise great job at hauling classic cars.
The styling was fine but I prefer the chiseled GM look.
But she does tell a story of a recent marketing event held in Texas and attended by many GMC dealers.
“The marketing vice-president is also English [former Vauxhall head Duncan Aldred] and he’s talking and I’m talking and they’re all looking at each other. They didn’t expect it because GMC is so American,” she says, adding that the head of exteriors, Matt Noon, is also a Brit and the interiors lead is Canadian. “So Duncan told them: ‘We’ve got a slight problem, haven’t we? The Commonwealth is running GMC’. They laughed.”
I wonder what market segment is driving the interior design of the full size SUVs....."oh dear, my arms are full of shopping bags, if only I could just wave my foot to open the lift gate so I could place them on my soft touch material fold flat seats"
Where'd the utility go? They've become big mall shopping buggies.
The article said she drives a HD Sierra diesel, which, I think is pretty cool. I do like the new Corvette interior so maybe she can take the trucks to the next level.
Maybe she can start to infuse some Granite/Sierra HD Concept design cues into GMC.
I have liked the GMC look for the last decade & a half. GMC seems to have the luxury of not having a car line also under its name. Some car styling doesn't translate to the trucks quite as well. IMO, the Silverado may not be the best styling of a Chevy truck, but I like them much better with color matched body panels & not the chrome grill & bumpers. But, I like the Sierra no matter if it has a chrome front end or color matched.
I didn't originally like them when they came out in '03, but I thought the '05 (HD) and '06 (1500) MCE did wonders for it. Plus, my first brand new vehicle was an '06 Z71, so I'm sentimental.
The Sierra has looked better since 1999 to me. The 03+ Sierra looked a lot better than the 99-02, but the Silverado made a lateral move, much like 2016.
Regardless where the design input comes from, GMC, just like Chevy trucks, all look like the boxes they came in. I don't know if this reflects a mentality at GM that says all truck owners like driving cinder blocks with wheels, but to use the nouveau-phrase of the day, the "design language," says truck owners don't like style.
The current Silverado looks pretty good in Z71 trim but the front end looks terribly bulky with chrome. I prefer the '14 - '15 front end. The Sierra is clearly the better looking of the siblings otherwise.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
GM Inside News Forum
3.5M posts
83.7K members
Since 2003
A forum community dedicated to GM owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about General Motors news, concepts, releases, classifieds, troubleshooting, maintenance, and more!