Made in China

Joe Qiu's interior for a Chinese Buick caught Detroit's eye--and got Shanghai into a global design bake-off.

The Chinese LaCrosse was designed entirely in GM's PATAC studio--with enough bling to sate Shanghai's young buyers.

One team would send a sketch that had closed the gaps on sheet metal by a few millimeters. A new sharper edge or angle would show up from America--and be incorporated in the next Chinese design. "It was a competition, but there also was this bond," says Stapleton. The process pushed the design "to the highest common denominator instead of the lowest. We had our ideas about what this car should be, and they had theirs. But we also had this web of ideas running between us."

Finally, Welburn chose a winner. Or rather, he didn't. He told the two teams, which had been competing so fiercely, that they would have to work together. China would create the LaCrosse's interior and take responsibility for the overall flow. North America would design the exterior--with input from Shanghai, since by the time the new LaCrosse appears, China is expected to be Buick's biggest single market.

PATAC may be part of a global team, but it knows just how good it is. Its people are as skilled as any out there; its designs are world-class.

"The design is going to be much stronger than if one team worked on it," Welburn explains now. "We're all going to benefit from this collaboration." Shyr describes it differently. "It was more like a war where two platoons are working against each other, and then the reality is that we are all fighting the same war. We had to realize that we had more tricks in our bag working together than just the ones we had here."

But they don't necessarily have to like it all the time. As Bierzynski says, "I'd contend that we could have done the whole car." PATAC may be part of a global team, but it knows just how good it is. Its people are as skilled as any out there. Its designs really are world-class.

For sure, young Qiu isn't kowtowing to any American bosses. Known across GM Design as "Shanghai Joe" now, he's often the most demanding over materials and finishes, questioning every detail. In those long videoconferences, he prefaces most answers with "yes, sir" or "yes, Mr. Welburn"--but it's clear that he is as intensely concerned as anyone with how plastics fit together and how the wood grains line up.

The new LaCrosse will go into production in 2008 or 2009. GM isn't saying much publicly about what it will look like--but it most certainly will reflect the ideas and the sensibilities of Qiu and his Chinese colleagues. A global car, designed in China. And after the LaCrosse? What of China then? Qiu, who six years ago spoke hardly any English, who doesn't even own a car, has a thought on the matter. "Hopefully one day," he says, "I'll be the next Ed Welburn."

Fara Warner (farataye@yahoo.com) is a Fast Company contributing writer who has covered both China and the auto industry for years.