By Bob Sorokanich, senior editor, GM News
This month, there was a changing of the guard at General Motors Design. Michael Simcoe, who has served as senior VP, GM Global Design since 2016, has retired. His successor, Bryan Nesbitt, becomes only the eighth person in almost a century to lead GM’s worldwide design organization.
To mark the occasion, GM News sat down with both Simcoe and Nesbitt to understand how both designers view the past, present, and future of automotive design.
A look back
It’s hard to believe today, but styling was not a core consideration in the early days of the auto industry. GM’s “Art and Colour” section, established in 1927, was one of the first dedicated in-house design divisions at a major automaker. Its founder, Harley Earl, oversaw design at GM until 1958, and he’s credited with numerous innovations that are still used today in car design studios around the world. Earl was the first to use full-size clay models to bring a concept out of the sketchbook and into three dimensions, allowing designers to make tweaks and adjustments by hand. Stroll through GM’s Design Center in Warren, Michigan, today, and alongside giant computer screens and virtual-reality simulations, you’ll see designers and sculptors still working on life-size clay mockups.
“I started in 1983, when there were no computers in the business,” Simcoe told GM News. “I learned the craft of doing exterior design from sculptors who did everything by hand. That’s an enduring thing. The design organization within GM continues to embrace full-size models and clay sculpting to keep emotion in the product.”
“We take a lot of pride in developing the skill of creating surfaces,” Nesbitt added. “The technique of using clay began here at GM, and it’s still such an efficient medium for us. I don’t think it will be replaced any time soon. A vehicle’s proportion – the way it sits, the way it occupies space, the way it balances – it's very hard to manage virtually. There’s also the craft of the hand. When you create something with your hands, there is a satisfaction, a fulfillment to that, and it ends up rendering in the surface.”
Simcoe began his car-design career at Holden, GM’s subsidiary in his home country of Australia. (GM retired the Holden brand in 2021.) Soon he was Holden’s chief designer, which led to successive roles as GM’s head of North American exterior design, international design, and, finally, of GM global design. He was appointed as VP of global design in 2016, then promoted to senior VP of global design in 2023. The Cadillac LYRIQ, GMC HUMMER EV, and Chevrolet Equinox EV were all designed under his leadership.
Asked to name a favorite design from his career, Simcoe names Cadillac’s latest flagship.
“The Cadillac CELESTIQ, because of what it represents: A design-led project that sent a message about the reinvigoration of Cadillac,” Simcoe said. “It’s essentially a concept vehicle turned into reality.”
The 42-year GM veteran spent the final few months of his tenure driving a CELESTIQ around Michigan. “You go down the street and people will do all sorts of things to get beside you,” he said. “They ask, what is that – but they all know it’s a Cadillac. That’s a huge success for a designer.”
Cadillac also looms large in Nesbitt’s life.
“I grew up in GM cars,” he told GM News. “They’re heavily imprinted.” He tells a story of cleaning out his grandmother’s house after her passing and finding an old letter. “My grandfather had gotten her a new Cadillac Fleetwood,” Nesbitt said. “The letter says, this car’s a dream, it drives like a cloud… it’s a love letter to Cadillac.”
Passion for GM vehicles is a dominant gene. Nesbitt’s father saved up and bought a ’63 Corvette Sting Ray as soon as he graduated high school. “It was the cheapest one he could find,” Nesbitt said. “Completely stripped, no options, black on black with no A/C – in Phoenix.”
When Nesbitt was 11, his father took him to ArtCenter College of Design in California, a hugely influential school for aspiring car designers.
“He said, if you really want to design cars, this is where you need to go,” Nesbitt told GM News. In August 1993, he graduated from ArtCenter at the top of his class, with honors. He joined General Motors Design in 2001 and swiftly rose to leadership roles, including VP of GM China Design, VP of GM North America Design, and VP of GM Europe Design. In 2022, he was named executive director of global Cadillac design, where he ushered in the current Cadillac production vehicle portfolio and shepherded the latest stunning concept cars – Opulent Velocity and SOLLEI – into being.
“GM was always this great, aspirational place,” Nesbitt said. “I really wasn’t interested in anything else. I’ve looked up at this role for my whole life.”
Simcoe’s legacy isn’t just written in the sheet metal of GM’s vehicles – it’s built into the very structure of Design West, the monolithic, cutting-edge 360,000-square-foot facility on GM’s technical campus in Warren that opened its doors in 2023.
“We architected the building to solve some basic problems in the old studios,” Simcoe said. The original facilities, with soaring windows, catered to stylists who sketched in pencil and pen, but made life difficult for anyone using a computer or tablet. In the new facility, computer work takes place in shaded alcoves arranged around a vaulted atrium where full-size clay models bask in natural light.
“Beyond the simple logistics, there was the greater notion of how you run a studio, whether it’s defined by brand or by architecture,” Simcoe added. The original building divvied up designers from Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC into separate, walled-off wings, implying competition rather than collaboration. In the new studios, there are no blinders between brands.
The new facilities embodied a philosophical shift.
“Once upon a time, this corner office sat at the top of a metaphorical pyramid,” Simcoe said. “I spent a lot of time trying to flatten that whole thing. There's still someone to look at when there's a failure, but there are more people to look at when there's a success.”
For Simcoe, history is imbued in everything GM Design does. “This organization started 100 years ago in Detroit, then moved, in the 1950s, to the building in Warren where we’re sitting today, and the next iteration is the GM Design West studios,” he said. “We’re all part of a continuum that has defined some of the classic design ages in North America and the world.”
At its grand opening in 2024, Design West earned widespread praise. The new “radically open” structure blends seamlessly with the landmark Eero Saarinen architecture of the original design headquarters, creating a timeless look that’s both midcentury and thoroughly modern.
“I give tours through these buildings, not because I have to, but because they reinforce the heritage that lives here, the incredible environment that we all work in,” Simcoe said. “You can get very lost in the day-to-day, but to step back and see other people’s fascination for what you’re showing them, it’s a very powerful thing.”
“Design as a function was invented here,” Nesbitt adds. “There is a lot of symbolism, gravitas, to working here. You feel the significance. So many great GM cars were created in these halls. It’s pretty humbling.”
Nesbitt takes over as head of design in a paradigm-shift moment for the industry.
“One of the biggest transitions in mobility is happening in this next window with autonomous driving,” he said. As cars become fully self-driving, the art and science of vehicle design will change drastically, he explained. Car designers facing this future can’t just think about styling as fashion – they need to rethink the very foundations of how humans and machines interact.
Over a century ago, the dawning of the auto industry marked a similar shift. “They once sold a model of a horse’s head that you could put on the front of your car, to enable the emotional transition from the horse to the automobile,” Nesbitt said. “That shows how this was a very dramatic transition for everyone. This next window is very significant, because this transition is going to change our behaviors. That’s what good technology does. The kind of discussions that we’re having now have become much more about the experience. No matter how advanced technology may be, for us it’s about how artfully it can it be integrated into your life.”
“Michael's legacy will be as one of the greatest,” Nesbitt said. “He leveled up the respect of the function of design, its value to the corporation. As a result, our output has been leveled up. The cars are some of the best they've ever been in my lifetime, from all aspects – the integration, the quality, the caliber of the design, the freshness, the bandwidth. Michael expects a very high standard, but he follows it up with very high character. As my boss, he established trust and caring. It’s been a privilege working with him.”
“GM has some of the most gifted designers and artisans in the world,” Simcoe said. “It’s been humbling to be a part of shaping the future of transportation. It's been said that design is the soul of GM, and in many ways it is. That's not decreasing the value of anything else we do, because it's all really, really important. But design is the protector of the emotion, the character of the products that we generate. With Bryan’s leadership, I know GM Design will continue to drive the company forward.”
This month, there was a changing of the guard at General Motors Design. Michael Simcoe, who has led GM Global Design since 2016, has retired. His successor, Bryan Nesbitt, becomes only the eighth person in almost a century to lead GM’s worldwide design organization.
To mark the occasion, GM News sat down with both Simcoe and Nesbitt to understand how both designers view the past, present, and future of automotive design.
A look back
It’s hard to believe today, but styling was not a core consideration in the early days of the auto industry. GM’s “Art and Colour” section, established in 1927, was one of the first dedicated in-house design divisions at a major automaker. Its founder, Harley Earl, oversaw design at GM until 1958, and he’s credited with numerous innovations that are still used today in car design studios around the world. Earl was the first to use full-size clay models to bring a concept out of the sketchbook and into three dimensions, allowing designers to make tweaks and adjustments by hand. Stroll through GM’s Design Center in Warren, Michigan, today, and alongside giant computer screens and virtual-reality simulations, you’ll see designers and sculptors still working on life-size clay mockups.
“I started in 1983, when there were no computers in the business,” Simcoe told GM News. “I learned the craft of doing exterior design from sculptors who did everything by hand. That’s an enduring thing. The design organization within GM continues to embrace full-size models and clay sculpting to keep emotion in the product.”
“We take a lot of pride in developing the skill of creating surfaces,” Nesbitt added. “The technique of using clay began here at GM, and it’s still such an efficient medium for us. A vehicle’s proportion – the way it sits, the way it occupies space, the way it balances – it's very hard to manage virtually. There’s also the craft of the hand. When you create something with your hands, there is an emotion, a fulfillment, and it ends up rendering in the surface.”
Simcoe began his car-design career at Holden, GM’s subsidiary in his home country of Australia. (GM retired the Holden brand in 2021.) Soon he was Holden’s chief designer, which led to successive roles as GM’s head of North American exterior design, international design, and, finally, of GM global design. He was appointed as VP of global design in 2016, then promoted to senior VP of global design in 2023. The Cadillac LYRIQ, GMC HUMMER EV, and Chevrolet Equinox EV were all designed under his leadership.
Asked to name a favorite design from his career, Simcoe names Cadillac’s latest flagship.
“The Cadillac CELESTIQ, because of what it represents: A design-led project that sent a message about the reinvigoration of Cadillac,” Simcoe said. “It’s essentially a concept vehicle turned into reality.”
The 42-year GM veteran spent the final few months of his tenure driving a CELESTIQ around Michigan. “You go down the street and people will do all sorts of things to get beside you,” he said. “They ask, what is that – but they all know it’s a Cadillac. That’s a huge success for a designer.”
The path to GM
Cadillac also looms large in Nesbitt’s life.
“I grew up in GM cars,” he told GM News. “They’re heavily imprinted.” He tells a story of cleaning out his grandmother’s house after her passing and finding an old letter. “My grandfather had bought her a new Cadillac Fleetwood,” Nesbitt said. “The letter read, this car’s a dream, it drives like a cloud… it’s a love letter to Cadillac.”
Passion for GM vehicles is a dominant gene. Nesbitt’s father saved up and bought a ’63 Corvette Sting Ray as soon as he graduated high school. “It was the cheapest one he could find,” Nesbitt said. “Completely stripped, no options, black on black with no A/C – in Phoenix.”
When Nesbitt was 11, his father took him to ArtCenter College of Design in California, a hugely influential school for aspiring car designers.
“He said, if you really want to design cars, this is where you need to go,” Nesbitt told GM News. In August 1993, he graduated from ArtCenter at the top of his class, with honors. He joined General Motors Design in 2001 and swiftly rose to leadership roles, including executive director of Design GM Europe, VP of Design GM China, and VP of Design GM North America. In 2016 Nesbitt was named executive director of global advanced design, directing projects like the 2021 and 2022 Cadillac AV family of concepts presented at the Consumer Electronics Show: Personal Space, Social Space, Open Space and Inner Space. In 2022, he was named executive director of global Cadillac design, where he shepherded the latest concept cars — Opulent Velocity and SOLLEI.
“GM was always this great, aspirational place,” Nesbitt said. “I really wasn’t interested in anything else. I’ve looked up at this role for my whole life.”
A home for Design
Simcoe’s legacy isn’t just written in the sheet metal of GM’s vehicles – it’s built into the very structure of Design West, the monolithic, cutting-edge 360,000-square-foot facility on GM’s technical campus in Warren that opened its doors in 2023.
“We architected the building to solve some basic problems in the old studios,” Simcoe said. The original facilities, with soaring windows, catered to stylists who sketched in pencil and pen, but made life difficult for anyone using a computer or tablet. In the new facility, computer work takes place in shaded alcoves arranged around a vaulted atrium where full-size clay models bask in natural light.
“Beyond the simple logistics, there was the greater notion of how you run a studio, whether it’s defined by brand or by architecture,” Simcoe added. The original building divvied up designers from Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC into separate, walled-off wings, implying competition rather than collaboration. In the new studios, there are no blinders between brands.
The new facilities embodied a philosophical shift.
“Once upon a time, this corner office sat at the top of a metaphorical pyramid,” Simcoe said. “I spent a lot of time trying to flatten that whole thing. There's still someone to look at when there's a failure, but there are more people to look at when there's a success.”
For Simcoe, history is imbued in everything GM Design does. “This organization started 100 years ago in Detroit, then moved, in the 1950s, to the building in Warren where we’re sitting today, and the next iteration is the GM Design West studios,” he said. “We’re all part of a continuum that has defined some of the classic design ages in North America and the world.”
At its grand opening in 2024, Design West earned widespread praise. The new “radically open” structure blends seamlessly with the landmark Eero Saarinen architecture of the original design headquarters, creating a timeless look that’s both midcentury and thoroughly modern.
“I give tours through these buildings, not because I have to, but because they reinforce the heritage that lives here, the incredible environment that we all work in,” Simcoe said. “You can get very lost in the day-to-day, but to step back and see other people’s fascination for what you’re showing them, it’s a very powerful thing.”
“Design as a function was invented here,” Nesbitt adds. “There is a lot of symbolism, gravitas, to working here. You feel the significance. So many great GM cars were created in these halls. It’s humbling.”
Looking to the future
Nesbitt takes over as head of design in a paradigm-shift moment for the industry.
“One of the biggest transitions in mobility is happening in this next window with autonomous driving,” he said. As cars become fully self-driving, the art and science of vehicle design will change drastically, he explained. Car designers facing this future can’t just think about styling as fashion – they need to rethink the very foundations of how humans and machines interact.
Over a century ago, the dawning of the auto industry marked a similar shift. “They once sold a model of a horse’s head that you could put on the front of your car, to enable the emotional transition from the horse to the automobile,” Nesbitt said. “That illustrates how this was a very dramatic transition for people. This next window is very significant, because this transition is going to influence our behaviors. That’s what good technology does. The kind of discussions that we’re having now have necessarily become much more about the total experience. No matter how advanced technology may be, for us it’s about how artfully it can it be integrated into your life.”
Changing of the guard
“Michael's legacy will be as one of the greatest,” Nesbitt said. “He leveled up the respect of the function of design, its value to the corporation. As a result, our output has been leveled up. The cars are some of the best they've ever been in my lifetime, from all aspects – the integration, the quality, the caliber of the design, the freshness, the bandwidth. Michael expects a very high standard, but he follows it up with very high character. As my boss, he established trust and caring. It’s been a privilege working with him.”
“GM has some of the most gifted designers and artisans in the world,” Simcoe said. “It’s been humbling to be a part of shaping the future of transportation. It's been said that design is the soul of GM, and in many ways it is. That's not decreasing the value of anything else we do, because it's all really, really important. But design is the protector of the emotion, the character of the products that we generate. With Bryan’s leadership, I know GM Design will continue to drive the company forward.”