New life for GM, new car for Buick, new job for Lutz

The new GM yesterday, a new old job for Bob Lutz, the new Buick Lacrosse today.

Being in Michigan has some benefits...like seeing the latest GM and Chrysler vehicles before everyone else does. I live in leafy Rochester Hills, home to lots of auto engineers,managers and so on, so you see a lot of new vehicles that they are getting to drive on their discount schemes.

So when a spotted a nice new car by the gym the other day, I thought, oh, nice new Lexus. Not a Lexus. Not a Hyundai Genisis even. A Buick? I did a double take, then walked around it.

Then walked around it again. Now, when you have loved cars and good design for years, you create a little protocol for checking out new cars. Walking right around a new car twice, is something that I think I did the last time in Germany when I first saw the Mercedes SLK. And that was a good eight year ago.

It's special, this car. Everything is tight. The curves are tight. The chrome swoops, the bonnet slices, the interior makes the even the S-Class (my usual standard for luxury interiors) look dated and fusty. The historic references like the air-intakes on the bonnet add to the overall design, not detract.

With the Cadillac CTS, the Lincoln MKX, MKZ, and the new Chevy Camaro, US auto design is finally showing it can blend design elements from the heyday of US auto design, into relevant 21st century cars.

Hopefully, bringing back Bob Lutz into the new GM will make sure we keep getting great American design like this.