Latest news with #BuickElectraOrbit
Perth Now
4 days ago
- Automotive
- Perth Now
American brand looks to the 1950s with wild, jet-inspired concept
There have been beautiful Buicks in the past, but rarely has the General Motors brand produced anything that could be called 'wild'. That has now changed with the Buick Electra Orbit – however, as GM notes, this is simply a concept. Conceived and developed by the GM China Advanced Design Center, the Electra Orbit is a 'design exploration that marries the romance of the 1950s with futuristic technology and pure-electric architecture'. CarExpert can save you thousands on a new car. Click here to get a great deal. Supplied Credit: CarExpert Designers drew inspiration from 'space-age spacecraft, jets, and iconic Buick concepts of the 1950s', with a rakish roofline, prominent shoulders, and a tapered, almost missile-like rea- end that gives the concept its most distinctive angle. It's a big 'un, too – GM says it measures nearly 6m long and over 2m wide. For reference, the longest production Buick was the 1975 Electra sedan at over 5.9m long. While the concept has a long rear overhang, its front overhang is quite short, and it has a smooth, grille-less front fascia. Supplied Credit: CarExpert The Electra Orbit rides on big 24-inch wheels – once a wild concept car touch, now standard fit on a GMC Yukon Denali – and features scissor doors and 'deployable aerodynamic devices' to optimise drag and downforce. Open those scissor doors and there's a 2+2-seat layout, with the rear seats separated by an unusual console. Dramatically arched ambient lighting strips grace the cabin, while the seats are finished in 'opulent fabrics' with a brocade pattern – another very 1950s touch, if in a different way to the Space Age exterior – in colours inspired by rich red clay. Supplied Credit: CarExpert Supplied Credit: CarExpert Supplied Credit: CarExpert Supplied Credit: CarExpert Up front, there's a curved pillar-to-pillar display which GM calls the 'Ring'. Vehicle functions can be adjusted via a crystal ball-like controller on the centre console. While the Electra Orbit concept likely won't reach production, Buick has dusted off its Electra nameplate which debuted in 1959 and was seen on a flagship model until 1990. First used on the Electra E5 and now-defunct Electra E4 electric SUVs introduced in 2023, it's being expanded to the upcoming Electra L7 sedan. GM confirmed in April it would make Electra a bona-fide sub-brand of Buick, offering electric vehicles, extended-range electric vehicles (EREVs) and plug-in hybrids on a new locally developed architecture called Xiao Yao. Supplied Credit: CarExpert Supplied Credit: CarExpert Above: 2025 Electra E5, 2025 Electra GS concept The American giant is doubling down on the Buick brand in China. It has long been its most popular brand there, and Buick's sales in China long ago overtook those in the US, with a raft of models developed exclusively for the brand's Chinese lineup with joint venture partner SAIC Motor. The SAIC-GM joint venture agreement is up for renewal in 2027. GM took a loss of more than US$5 billion on its Chinese operations late last year, but while it racked up losses in 2024, this year has been much sunnier for the American giant. In both the first and second quarters of this year, GM and its Chinese joint ventures posted year-on-year sales growth. Its second-quarter deliveries were up by 20 per cent, marking the highest annual gain for a single quarter in four years, while overall in the first half of 2025 its sales were up by 9.4 per cent to 890,000 units. Supplied Credit: CarExpert Supplied Credit: CarExpert Above: 2024 Electra-LT concept, 2025 Electra L7 Click an image to view the full gallery.
Yahoo
06-08-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
This Buick Concept Looks like a 1950s Dream Car, Showing Buick Can Still Design a Stunning Car
The Buick Electra Orbit is a concept car from GM's advanced design studio in China, and takes inspiration from GM's Motorama dream cars from the 1950s. The Electra Orbit has a streamlined shape, smooth surfacing, and active aerodynamics. Inside, there's a full-width display, ornately decorated fabrics, and crystal trim. The United States was riding high in the 1950s. A booming postwar economy saw the automobile become firmly entrenched in American culture as personal car ownership skyrocketed, especially as the initial veins of the national Interstate Highway System began to stretch across the country. Capitalizing on this automotive fervor, General Motors created a series of daring dream cars for its Motorama exhibits to excite the public about the future of personal transportation. The Buick Electra Orbit looks like it would fit right in with those Motorama concepts, except for the fact that this sleek sedan was designed in 2025 by GM's advanced design studio in Shanghai, China. GM's China division readily admits its space-age inspiration, stating that the concept is "a design exploration that marries the romance of the 1950s with futuristic technology and pure-electric architecture." While the Electra Orbit seems to exist only virtually in these artistic renders, it serves as a beacon for what Buicks could look like in the next few decades. GM says the concept is around 19 feet long and roughly 6.5 feet wide, giving it dramatic proportions befitting a flagship sedan. The front end dips down low, while the bodywork wears a streamlined silhouette. The headlights consist of six hockey-stick-shaped LEDs, sitting on either side of an illuminated Buick logo that is displayed on a central spine running up the hood of the car. The fastback roofline gradually slopes downward, ducking under a winglike protrusion that houses the simple taillights. The Electra Orbit rides on massive 24-inch wheels with an old-school dish design, filling the bulging wheel arches. The concept also features active aerodynamics, as shown off in an Instagram video from GM Design. Two discreet panels on the hood duck down to send cool air to the front brakes, while the rear wing element lifts up and splits into two pieces. The front splitter, side skirts, and rear bumper also descend down and forward to form a more efficient aerodynamic profile at speed. Scissor doors swing upward to reveal a spacious cabin, the extra room afforded by the electric powertrain. A digital display sweeps across the length of the dashboard, and the wheel and instrument panel reconfigure depending on whether the owner is actively driving or leaving it up to the autonomous driving system. A holographic projection atop the dashboard, which looks like a planet with orbiting moons, represents the "intelligent AI assistant." The only physical control is a crystal ball that sits embedded in the center console and apparently "offers intuitive physical command of vehicle functions." The cabin is decked out with a mix of fabrics, with a grayish color juxtaposed with a red clay-inspired hue. This is complemented by an ornate brocade pattern and crystal trim accents. The center spine continues inside with an illuminated edge, dipping down from the dashboard and under the center console before reappearing atop the center console and rising between the rear seats in a C shape to meet the concept's roof. The Electra Orbit is obviously a flight of fancy and doesn't preview any production-ready Buicks coming in the near future. Instead, it appears that GM is letting its designers exercise their skills and imagination as they toy with what the automobile could become over the rest of this century. This is just the latest in a line of 2025 concepts from GM's advanced design studios, following the U.K. Corvette and California Corvette concepts, and it's got us dreaming of a world where the Electra Orbit rubs shoulders with those dramatic future Vettes. You Might Also Like Car and Driver's 10 Best Cars through the Decades How to Buy or Lease a New Car Lightning Lap Legends: Chevrolet Camaro vs. Ford Mustang!
