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2010 Cadillac Aera Concept news, pictures, and information | ||
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Cadillac Aera Concept Wins 7th Annual L.A. Design Challenge
GM Advanced Design team most honored in challenge historyLOS ANGELES – The Cadillac Aera concept vehicle won the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show Design Challenge, tying wîth Smart and besting entries from seven other automakers including Mercedes-Benz, Honda, Nissan, Toyota and Maybach. GM Advanced Design has now won the honor more times than any other design team; this is its third victory since 2005.
This is the seventh year for the contest, and this year designers were asked to envision the '1,000 lb. car' and tasked to imagine an efficient four-passenger vehicle that maintained comfort, safety, driving performance and style while not exceeding the weight requirement.
'The Cadillac Aera concept was designed to continue the forward-thinking imagination of Cadillac's ‘art and science' philosophy,' explains Jussi Timonen, lead designer for the project. 'It's designed as a small city urban vehicle, but we approached this 2+2 touring coupe very much from the brand's luxury perspective. Every detail of the Aera was conceived to minimize the vehicle's environmental impact without sacrificing the style, comfort and attention to detail that are hallmarks of the Cadillac brand.'The Aera is powered by compressed air via a highly efficient Pneumatic Drive System that has a 10,000-psi composite air storage tank wîth capacity for a 1,000-mile range. Flexible, pressurized air cells in the exterior skin, similar to material developed for the NASA Mars Rover airbags, enhance passive safety and interior comfort. The flexible polymer skin optimizes aerodynamics and functions as an ultra-lightweight alternative to conventional body panels and glass.
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The interior is crafted wîth an ultra-light recyclable polymer that allows for HVAC channels, fully adjustable seating, storage and comfort features all in one mono-form structure. Generous storage space accommodates luggage for two people. Additional technologies include an all-in-one wheel system that combines rotary actuator propulsion, §teering and suspension functions. A drive-by-wire system decreases the mass of electrical components, while vehicle-to-vehicle communication promotes active safety.
The concept was conceived in GM's North Hollywood Advanced Design Studio by Frank Saucedo, director; Phil Tanioka, vehicle designer; Brent Wickham, concept strategist; Shawn Moghadam, layout designer and Timonen, the project manager. Earlier this week, GM commemorated 10 years of advanced design at the L.A. area studio.
'This year's design challenge was extremely difficult to judge because of the quality of all of the entries, but I believe that the executions that won exemplified everything that we were trying to achieve wîth this competition,' said Stewart Reed, chair, Transportation Design, Art Center College of Design. 'The concepts that won were really spot on for their brands, which was one of many reasons for the victory.'The Design Challenge is part of the Design Los Angeles automobile designers' conference and has evolved into an integral element of the Los Angeles Auto Show. Design Los Angeles connects those working in the design wîth well-known automotive design leaders. Los Angeles is home to the world's largest concentration of manufacturer design studios, representing automakers from North America, Europe and Asia. It is also the home of Art Center College of Design, one of the world's foremost transportation design institutions where many of today's leading automotive designers began their careers.
About General Motors Design -- The first and largest global automotive OEM design function, General Motors has a network of 10 Design Centers in eight countries around the world. More than 1,500 men and women are responsible for the design development of every GM concept and production car and truck globally. The Design Centers are located in the Únited States, Germany, England, Korea, China, Australia, Brazil and India, and GM Design employees represent more than 99 percent of all countries across the globe. GM Design is led by Ed Welburn, Vice President, Global Design. Welburn is only the sixth Design leader in GM history, and the first to lead all of the company's Global Design Centers.
About General Motors – General Motors, one of the world's largest automakers, traces its roots back to 1908. With its global headquarters in Detroit, GM employs 209,000 people in every major region of the world and does business in more than 120 countries. GM and its strategic partners produce cars and trucks in 31 countries, and sell and service these vehicles through the following brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Daewoo, Holden, Isuzu, Jiefang, Opel, Vauxhall, and Wuling. GM's largest national market is China, followed by the Únited States, Brazil, the Únited Kingdom, Germany, Canada, and Russia. GM's OnStar subsidiary is the leader in vehicle safety, security and information services. General Motors acquired operations from General Motors Corporation on July 10, 2009, and references to prior periods in this and other press materials refer to operations of the old General Motors Corporation. More information on the new General Motors can be found at www.gm.com.Source - Cadillac| GM's New Enterprise Data Center Transforms Global IT | |
 | Private cloud supports super-computing, integration of design-build-sell operations General Motors today unveiled a state-of-the-art $130-million enterprise data center that will serve as the computing backbone for the automaker's vast global operations. The center, benchmarked against the best in the world, is the capstone of GM's efforts to transform its IT operations to help the company work smarter and faster from the design studio to the factory to the showroom floor. Located a...[Read more...] |
| Audi at Le Mans: Advantage through efficiency | |
 | • 90 years of Le Mans, 15 years of Audi at the '24 Heures'
• Eleven victories at 14 runs and absolute distance record • Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich: 'Le Mans points the way to the future' Six more weeks until the Le Mans 24 Hours celebrates its 90th anniversary. Since 1999, Audi has shaped the world's most important endurance race like no other automobile manufacturer. Eleven victories in 14 events – the technological milestones set by Ingolstadt and...[Read more...] |
| Cadillac Enhances Certified Pre-Owned Benefits | |
 | Cadillac today announced enhancements to one of the most comprehensive certified pre-owned vehicle programs in the luxury vehicle industry, including higher levels of warranty coverage and benefits for owners and shoppers. Effective today, Cadillac's Certified Pre-Owned program will extend vehicle coverage to match the new-vehicle bumper-to-bumper warranty for up to six years or 70,000 miles, whichever comes first. Cadillac now covers more of its certified pre-owned vehicles than BMW, Mercede...[Read more...] |
| 2013 RAM 1500 LARAMIE LONGHORN NAMED TO WARD'S 10 BEST INTERIORS LIST FOR 2013 | |
 | • For 2013, the Ram 1500's award-winning interior includes material upgrades, all-new interior themes with invigorating colors that speak to the lifestyle of the Ram Truck brand • All-new HVAC controls and new multimedia systems enhance the driver experience • The 2013 Ram 1500 also features an exclusive eight-speed transmission activated with a breakthrough e-shift rotary dial April 15, 2013 , Auburn Hills, Mich. - The 2013 Ram 1500 Laramie Longhorn has been named one ...[Read more...] |
| OnStar Makes 439 Million Connections… and Counting | |
 | Originally developed as an airbag deployment notification system on three 1997 Cadillac models, OnStar has evolved to offer unmatched safety and security services. Today OnStar also provides everyday services like Turn-by-Turn Navigation, Hands-Free Calling and the RemoteLink Mobile App, leading to more than 439 million interactions – and counting. Over the last 16 years, OnStar has assisted in 191,000 Automatic Crash Response calls. Here are some other numbers contributing to the gaudy stat...[Read more...] |
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