GAC shows ‘Barchetta’ concept at Milan studio launch

At a private event in Milan, GAC has launched not only a new advanced design studio – its first in Europe – but also a new concept car. Paying homage to its location and northern Italy’s rich history of car culture, the studio’s design team tried their hand at a reimagined Italian sports car of the 1960s. While it is dubbed “Barchetta”, GAC says it is not explicity inspired by the Fiat Barchetta.

Tucked away in the Tortona district of Milan, the studio is surrounded by like-minded creatives and fashionistas. The area was once a bustling hub of industrial activity but in recent years has been revitalised with the presence of boutique PR and graphic design agencies, motorcyle start-ups and footwear brands like Vibram. Car Design News snared a tour of the building and one-to-ones with the design team, so look out for a separate article on that.

Hidden behind a sliding door, which in fact forms the front fascia of the building, the Barchetta concept lay in wait. A full-size model that was sneakily rolled in under journalists’ noses, the concept’s main structure is formed of only three parts and is dominated by a one-piece aluminium shell in an attractive plum colour.

The seats are suspended by fabric straps, rather than being mounted directly to the chassis. Huge 315/25R21 tyres protrude from each corner and eat into the bodywork, which has been cut away to accommodate them. It looks more like a go-kart. The long wheelbase and expansive bonnet up front, not to mention that paintwork, is reminiscent of the 1949 Ferrari 166 MM race car. The headrests also feel familiar (Fiat Barchetta, anyone?) and rise above the cockpit.

Otherwise, you’d be hard pushed to find other obvious 1960s influences. Its front end carries GAC’s distinctive fluted headlights, with a huge matte black front splitter. In combination, they create a similar face to the hyper rare 1990s Maserati Barchetta. The rear end forms almost a pointed boat-tail, which itself is supported by another razor-thin rear splitter. The body was also partly inspired by GAC’s Time concept, with a simiilar front end and waterdrop silhouette.

As if it was not obvious enough that this is a future-looking, one-off concept car, the wheels are dressed with metal torsion cables, which cross over themselves to create the appearance of traditional spokes. This is admittedly a very pared back vehicle, open to the elements with no roof, no door cards and no windscreen. As such, the interior is suitably minimalistic, with just a yoke-style steering wheel, orange accents and cream seats (or should we say hammocks?)

As head of the new Milan studio, Stephane Janin says that he wants to create the feeling of a start-up – a sentiment shared by numerous other representatives from GAC’s Milan, Guangzhou, LA and Shanghai studios on the day. His promise to Fan Zhang, who leads GAC’s global design activities, was that things would be efficient and agile, with ideas turning into workable products and concepts at speed. The Barchetta concept shows that he meant it, said Zhang during the event. “Stephane and the team have really put their words into action,” he told CDN from the sidelines.

This is partly why small Italian sports cars were chosen as the inspiration. They are small, minimalistic and light which mean it would, in theory, be easier to put a concept together at pace. “This was all about working with a short timescale and a limited budget, so that led us to a lightweight project like this,” Zhang explained. It can certainly be considered a success on that front: it took just two months to put together ready for the reveal on the morning of 26 October 2022. About one month went into design, and one month into modelling, all of which was done virtually. “The team was able to go from sketch to 2D and 3D models very quickly,” said Zhang.

“This is a new generation of design studio,” added Janin. “You can do the first stages of design purely digitally. This means you can work in smaller spaces, and work more efficiently.” Reflecting on the concept, Janin – who earlier received raucous applause as it was unveiled – recognised that this was obviously going to be a different kind of concept car given that timescale, but one that he believes could still “serve as a piece of art.”

The Barchetta concept (as it is referred to by the team) is part of the Milan studio’s Car Culture Collaboration Project which runs with the hashtag #carcultureseries. This suggests there may well be more concepts of this nature coming out of GAC’s new Milan skunkworks. Given the speed at which this one was put together, subsequent concepts may not necessarily be years down the line, but months (speculation, of course.) And as a nice touch, the event’s attendees will go home with a three-piece diecast model of the concept.