General Motors adds digital sculptor to UK studio

Building on the appointment of exterior design specialist Hitesh Panchal, General Motors advanced design studio has brought in another new recruit. Jonathan Findlay joins from the Lotus Tech Creative Centre in Coventry and brings plenty of digital design nous to the table.

Findlay spent more than four years at Lotus, working most recently on the game-changing new Eletre electric SUV. Prior to that, he spent time at Geely and Aston Martin as a digital designer, as well as at design consultancy Defy 3D.

His first in-house position at an OEM was with Jaguar Land Rover, working on the F-Type Coupe, CX-17 concept and Jaguar XE, XF and F-Pace production cars. He is one of the many graduates of Coventry University’s Transport and Product Design course who have gone on to secure an impressive career in car design.

Findlay makes the move at a time where digital design has never been more integral to the creation of new models. While clay holds its place in the design process, teams often use software to do much of the early leg work and incremental developments. He is sure to be kept busy at his new gig with GM under the leadership of site director Julian Thomson.

Speaking to Car Design News in September, Thomson explained that he was in favour of working quickly and encouraging spontaneity. “One of the purposes of these studios is to try out new technologies and new ways of doing things,” he said. “I believe doing very fast animations is important for digital models as well, so we will be employing some of the best staff available to do that.”