General Motors Europe Announces it Will Create a New European Design Center

Zurich , Switzerland – General Motors Europe is announcing today that it will open a new European Design Center in Rüsselsheim , Germany in January 2006 as part of its continued focus on further strengthening product development. This new, world-class facility will be housed in the center of its Rüsselsheim campus.

“Design is already one of the most crucial elements of our business and will continue to be in the future,” said Carl-Peter Forster, president of GM Europe. “Therefore, we will create a facility that provides our designers with the location, atmosphere and tools they need to maximize the creative process and design our future vehicles.”

The new design center will house GM Europe’s advanced and production design, providing a direct link and increased synergies between advanced engineering, product planning and the brands.

“Having our advanced design operations in Rüsselsheim will further strengthen our ties with engineering and planning,” said Bryan Nesbitt, executive director of GM Design Europe. “The new, high-tech facility, enabling the right creative incubator, demonstrates GM’s continued recognition of design’s value to the development of our GM Europe brands.”

General Motors’ global Design organization is a multi-national team with eleven design centers around the world. The offices are linked via virtual reality studios and projects are shared around the globe. The organization is led by Ed Welburn, GM’s global vice president of design.

“A new GM Europe design center is an exciting addition to our global design enterprise,” said Welburn. “Our company truly has a passion for design, and this new facility will help secure our design relevance in the European region, and around the world, for years to come.”

The new GM Europe Design Center will be located in a state-of-the-art building on the Rüsselsheim site that will be modified specifically for design’s needs.

Saab Brand Center to open in Sweden

In concert with this announcement, GM Europe will also establish a global Saab Brand Center in Sweden . This will be the epicenter of the Saab brand and will house a strategic design team that will concentrate on Saab-specific design.

“From a designer’s perspective, Saab has such a rich history to build upon,” said Nesbitt. “Therefore, we plan to ensure that future Saabs maintain this DNA, accentuating their aircraft heritage and the Scandinavian design aesthetics that have helped Saab challenge the mainstream for nearly 60 years.”

In addition to Saab designers, the Saab Brand Center will house a core team of engineers and marketers who will work in close collaboration to develop, evolve and maintain the Saab brand character in all areas – from developing future product proposals to ensuring consistent communication across the globe.

“The sole focus of Saab’s new Brand Center is to create an environment where Saab specialists can focus specifically on what makes Saab unique and, therefore, help ensure we maintain these qualities in everything we do: design, engineering, marketing communications and more,” said Forster.