We knew we were getting close when 25th Street was lined with pristine Buick cars in every style and size. And as we opened the door of White Space Chelsea, the new Buick Wildcat EV stood proudly in its place of honor, one elongated door ajar to catch a glimpse of the interior. In the heart of New York City, famously home to some of the most influential galleries in the world, the new EV concept sits comfortably in between design, engineering, and art, and Design Milk was invited to check it out.
With drawings and renderings of its origins on the walls, the Wildcat EV simultaneously exists in the future, yet knows where it came from. Grounded in a rich legacy, the General Motors Heritage Center loaned the team an actual ‘54 Wildcat for the duration of the design process, which sat adjacent to the current clay model. The designers found this incredibly inspiring, channeling the optimism of the original design in their subsequent iterations.
The headlights take on a feline mystique, curving up and around the sides of the body. Tactility is everything with automobile design, as one is held by the seat while gripping the wheel, and is completely encased within a world of the design team’s creation. The interior is quite immersive, feeling generously wide, and inner console is monolithic, yet unobtrusive, one singular form stretching from the front to the back seat.
The seats feature a brilliantly deep orange seatbelt, a much more refined hue than its sometimes neon counterparts. Contrasting with the light gray seats, each element is only attached to the bottom of the body, allowing an incredible sense of spaciousness once seated. The upholstery is made using the latest in 3D knit technology, which results in a textured surface that remains plush, even on long drives.
Further down the hall, we spoke with Lewis Piccoli, a General Motors clay sculptor conducting a demonstration that put the sculpting process on view. Starting with plasticine clay that cools as it dries, the team usually begins with 1/3 scale models, bolstered by a wooden frame, to holistically see how the forms work together. Using metal scrapers and clay tools, Piccoli transformed how the final form’s planes interact, bringing the shape to life.
This was highly illuminating, not only in terms of how much we can still learn from clay sculpting, but how Buick is using traditional methods to look towards the future – to better understand how form and function might marry as one, and center humanness in the process.
Traditional methods of design, including clay sculpting, are all brilliant forms of art. What can be felt with the human hand would be impossible to glean with the eye, millions of nerve endings firing at once to give us an immense amount of feedback. Clay sculptors take that feedback and convert it into a full-scale body side, working fluid sculptural surfaces until they make sense.
Lewis Piccoli
These forms often discover themselves, brought into creation by skilled hands, feeling for an unwanted dip or bump. And the methods, though sometimes ancient, still find their place even at the highest levels of automobile design – humanity insisting upon itself once again.
The Wildcat EV is a forward-thinking response to the question, “How is Buick going to progress, and what is the core of our design philosophy?” Futuristic and performance-grade, yet grounded in history, this concept car aims to embody everything the brand wants to explore further, seeking newer, bolder silhouettes in conjunction with top-tier materials.
A truly good idea is hard to come by. From the ignition of inspiration, to the fully realized design might take years to fully come to fruition. For Buick, the Wildcat EV has been a dream decades in the making: the original design first released in 1965, inspired by concept cars of the same name, incepted in the 1950s. With futuristic upgrades to the body, materials, interior, and even a new logo, the ethos remains the same – passion and craftsmanship found in the original lives on in the latest Wildcat EV.
To learn more about the new Wildcat EV concept from Buick, visit buick.ca.
Photography by Erica Westley.
