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Lotus Elise S1 designer Julian Thomson will oversee new UK design studio for GM

Former Jaguar design boss Julian Thomson has been announced as director of a new GM Advanced Design Europe studio to be opened in the Midlands at the end of this year.

He has been working under the radar on a feasibility study of the project since January and officially joined in July.

The move is part of GM CEO Mary Barra’s well-publicised plan to get back into Europe’s car markets “in a significant way”, but doing it with GM’s current brands, following the sale of Opel and Vauxhall to Stellantis in 2017.

The former global number-one car maker departed Europe saying it wanted to concentrate on more profitable truck sales, mostly in the US, but it has since decided that it misses having a European influence.

Although Thomson will be based in the UK, he said the new studio, which will initially have a staff of 35, will participate in all worldwide GM projects and have the freedom to suggest new ones.

The establishment of the studio is understood to have been sponsored by GM’s Detroit-based vice-president of global design, Mike Simcoe. He believes that as the group moves completely into EV markets, it needs more influence from Europe – arguably the world’s most sophisticated EV market. 

The exact location of Thomson’s new studio is yet to be revealed, but he said you “wouldn’t have to be a genius” to predict a location close to many similar businesses in the Midlands.

The studio will open with a fairly small staff, said Thomson, while he takes time to hire the rest of the team. He wants a very disparate team and said he already has “a large number of applicants” and there “a few I’ve worked with before that I’m chasing”.

Since January, Thomson has been studying GM’s product line-up closely. He particularly admires recent developments at Cadillac (“The way it had changed its image is remarkable”) and highly rates the latest Chevrolet Corvette. “I’d love to own one, and being involved in designing a Corvette would be a dream,” he confessed. 

The GM Europe studio won’t just work on “Europeanising” existing models, said Thomson. Its remit will be as wide as any other GM design facility's and it will have real-time contact with American, Korean and Chinese facilities.

“Mike Simcoe has made it clear that he wants us involved in the whole global network of GM design," said Thomson. "We will be a kind of think-tank, a contributor to everything that goes on inside the mothership.”

Thomson, who worked for more than a decade at JLR and at Volkswagen and Lotus before that, said he is especially excited to be joining a company with such long and important design traditions.

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“When you walk into those studios at Warren, you’re instantly aware of all the history."

Steve Cropley

Steve Cropley Autocar
Title: Editor-in-chief

Steve Cropley is the oldest of Autocar’s editorial team, or the most experienced if you want to be polite about it. He joined over 30 years ago, and has driven many cars and interviewed many people in half a century in the business. 

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He has been surprised and delighted by the generous reception afforded the My Week In Cars podcast he makes with long suffering colleague Matt Prior, and calls it the most enjoyable part of his working week.

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Symanski 5 September 2022

Great news for GM - Julian Thomson's talent is undoubted.

 

Created the original Lotus Elise, but he also did the Land Rover LRX concept and every single Range Rover since has copied its look.   From the Evoke through to the current Range Rover.   That's how talented a designer Thomson is, and not forgetting his work in the last even updates of Jaguar cars before Bollore killed them all off.

 

The sad part is how the worst automotive CEO Thierry Bollore has killed off all of Jaguar's models.   Destroying the Jaguar car company in the process.   Cancelled the new XJ citing that the platform was too old, only to release it as the new Range Rover!

 

Did enough damage to Jaguar that Thomson left.   That's how bad he is when one of the best car designers walks out the door...

 

manicm 6 September 2022
The new XJ would have been a very boring car to look at. Bollore was correct.
Symanski 6 September 2022

manicm,

all reports about the design of the next XJ described it as "stunning".

 

nein numb 14 November 2022

I worked at Jaguar Design for years. JT worked in the Jaguar Advanced Design Studio. No where near any Range Rover designs (Gaydon, Warwickshire) 

He only "overlooked"early Jaguar pre concept projects. 

All the actual design input came from his skilled designers below him. He was a "figure head" Designer

He then inherited Jaguar Design when Ian Callum retired.

Then he was "sideways" moved after a couple of years when they relialised his skill level.