Ford’s longtime crosstown rival, General Motors, recently opened a brand-new advanced design studio in the UK. The state-of-the-art facility is touted as a pivotal move for GM as it ventures back into the European market, giving the automaker a new base of design operations overseas.
The 24,584 square-foot campus, located in Royal Leamington Spa, England, is home to more than 30 designers and creatives, providing a space not only for digital media, but physical clay model development as well. Julian Thompson, formerly of Jaguar Land Rover and Lotus, is at the helm of the new design center, bringing his high-end expertise to the GM stable; specifically, Thompson lent creative vision to the Lotus Elise 1, Range Rover Evoque, and Land Rover LRX Concept.
“Our advanced design team’s mandate extends well beyond creating production vehicles,” said Michael Simcoe, senior VP of GM global design. “While they collaborate within our global design network on production and concept vehicle programs, these teams are primarily tasked with imagining what mobility could look like five, 10, and even 20 years into the future and driving innovation for GM.”
GM pulled out of Europe with the sale of its Opel and Vauxhall brands to PSA Groupe in 2017. It only recently ventured back into the market with the introduction of the 2024 Cadillac Lyriq. Conversely, Ford never left the market, as it maintained its presence in the region while its crosstown rival was notably absent. In fact, the Ford Ranger has enjoyed tremendous success overseas, outselling all of its direct rivals in Europe for 10 years and counting. The Ford Kuga is another popular model offered by The Blue Oval, landing itself on the list of the top 30 vehicles sold in Europe, an honor it’s held for quite some time, alongside the Ford Puma.
Even so, Ford Europe sales dipped 17 percent throughout 2024, signaling a steady decline for The Blue Oval in the region. In fact, the automaker is prioritizing commercial rather than mass market sales as it seeks to “right-size” its European operations.
Comments
And its first design was a bomb so bad it almost exploded.
LOL,
2017 GM MGT; ” We can’t sell cars in Europe, lets sell everything and leave Europe”
2025 GM MGT; ” We need to sell cars in Europe, lets spend Billions More to get back a fraction of what we used to have with Opel”.
Which set of 20 something consultants thought both these ideas up?