Influential design outpost closes
GAC to shutter Los Angeles Advanced Design studio
GAC is closing its Los Angeles Advanced Design Studio, bringing an end to one of the Chinese carmaker’s most internationally visible creative hubs
Chinese carmaker GAC is to close its advanced design studio in Los Angeles. The decision was confirmed by studio chief Pontus Fontaeus, who communicated the closure in an email to Car Design News. The move marks a significant shift in the company’s global design strategy and signals a consolidation of its overseas footprint.
CDN understands that members of the Los Angeles team have been offered roles at GAC headquarters in Guangzhou led by VP head of design Fan Zhang, although details around transitions and timelines have not been disclosed.
The Los Angeles studio has played a strong role in GAC’s creative evolution, producing several of the brand’s most influential concept vehicles. Chief among them is the 2020 Enpulse concept car, a lightweight, driver-focused electric sports car that attracted global attention for its clean proportions and exuberant interior.
The Enpulse directly informed the Hyptec SSR production car, which carried forward the design themes shaped in California.
Other high-profile projects include the ENO.146 aero-efficiency study, the Entranze concept and a recent Baja-inspired off-road show vehicle that demonstrated the studio’s approach to rapid digital modelling and advanced visualisation. Collectively, these works helped establish GAC as a design-led Chinese OEM with international sensibilities.
While the shutdown marks the end of GAC’s physical presence in Southern California, the question remains as to the longer-term influence of the LA studio on future work from the carmaker.
