Backward Is Forward
When I was driving my Rambler (in between its visits to now-rich mechanics), I kept wondering why carmakers making all these hideous new cars didn't just go back to some of their old designs but remake them with modern guts in them. Well, at least GM is finally to be coming to the conclusion idea that cool design might sell cars. When you read stories about autoworkers out of jobs, recognize that it's directly linked to the level of moronism high up in the car companies. Um, duh, build something people are excited to buy. Real hard, boys:

Now GM is looking back to the 1950s for inspiration as it tries to recover from declining market share and a seemingly unbreakable reliance on cash incentives to sell cars.

Not that future Chevrolets will necessarily sprout tail fins or dozens of pounds of glittering chrome, but they won't look like every other car on the road.

"For a while there I think there was a feeling that people who bought Chevrolets cared about a lot of things but they didn't care a lot about design," said Tom Wilkinson, communications director for GM design.

Eye-catching design has certainly worked for the Chrysler Group of DaimlerChrysler. Cars like the Chrysler 300 and Dodge Magnum sell well without heavy incentives. Both cars are proportioned to look as if they could have driven straight out of a comic book.

...Expect the change to start in the next couple of years.

While no images of the vehicles have been publicly released yet, a look ahead at upcoming Saturns and a look back at the classic Chevys of the 1950s gives an idea of the sort of thing Wilkinson is talking about. And, some experts say, it's just what Chevrolet needs in an era when building better cars just isn't enough.

Saturn, GM's youngest division, has always been known for a kind and gentle dealership experience with no-haggle pricing. It has never been known for particularly desirable or interesting automobiles.

Saturn's new line-up of cars, beginning with the two-seat roadster called the Sky, followed by the Aura sedan. The Vue SUV will also get a new, futuristic look and Saturn will be introducing a larger crossover SUV as well. Saturns are going to start looking very interesting. Much of the vehicles' design will be shared with GM's European Opel brand. The designs will be edgier and more artful than American buyers are used to seeing from GM.