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It was love at first sight.<\/p>\n
Chevrolet design boss John Cafaro, 60, saw the original Stingray Corvette concept car at the 1964 New York Auto Show. He was nine years old. \u201cI wanted to go wherever that car was created. I wanted to work with those people,\u201d he remembers.<\/p>\n
Fifty years later and he oversees Chevy design, including the \u2018Vette. His latest baby is the fast-back, 2016 Chevrolet Malibu, the best-looking \u2018Bu since, well, the fast-back \u201968 classic. At a time when consumers are flocking to boxier SUVs, mid-size sedans must flaunt their sex appeal. Yet the tsunami of government safety and mpg regulations is shrinking the creative envelope, forcing design homogeneity and challenging designers and engineers alike.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t put Jesse and I in the backseat together,\u201d laughed Cafaro with his friend and Malibu Chief Engineer Jesse Ortega at a media test in California. \u201cWe might strangle each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Jesse & John\u2019s Excellent Adventure, Jesse must assure the Malibu conforms to pedestrian collision, rollover, frontal offset, efficiency standards, etc. \u2013 even as John makes sure it turns heads like Kate Upton on a catwalk.<\/p>\n
Improbably, their team has produced a vehicle with the profile of an Audi A7 and the fuel economy of a compact. I sat down with Jersey-born Cafaro in Palo Alto to talk Malibu, Camaros, and Russian dolls.<\/p>\n
Q:\u00a0You went to work with GM right out of school?<\/p>\n
Cafaro:\u00a0We did an art design school project at Brooklyn\u2019s Pratt Institute with GM. I got all my sketches together and they brought us out to GM to look around. I never thought I would have a shot.<\/p>\n
I came in 1977 when GM was really changing their thinking from chrome-laden, rear-wheel drive cars to tighter, more European proportions. Cars like the Volkswagen Sirocco and guys like (Italian designer) Giorgetto Giugiaro were really recreating the car. The first car that captured that look was the 1984 Corvette that went from an exaggerated, shark-like style to a more European, cleaner car. The Cadillac Seville got it right too . . in the late \u201890s.<\/p>\n
Q:\u00a0What\u2019s been the biggest change since you\u2019ve been a designer?<\/p>\n
Cafaro:\u00a0The computer. I can still remember at GM when they were bringing in computers and getting the more modern, surface-development tools. But as far as the creative spirit it\u2019s still done the same way. It\u2019s a craft of clay, sketch, and an idea. Young designers coming out of school work on a (computer) pad and screen but they have their own style. The computer didn\u2019t inhibit their expression, it just speeds up the process.<\/p>\n
Q:\u00a0Is car design more important than ever?<\/p>\n
Cafaro:\u00a0Design is a fashion statement. Everybody buys style whether it\u2019s a cooking tool or a refrigerator. Cars and trucks are no different. Now the design is the differentiator because everybody\u2019s pursuing safety and aero and rendering the same solutions. Audi, Mercedes, Cadillac all have their style. Chevrolet is starting to emerge with its own philosophy.<\/p>\n
Q:\u00a0Audis all look alike, yet each Chevy seem different. Why?<\/p>\n
Cafaro:\u00a0We don\u2019t do a Russian doll mentality. We have a . . . family DNA, but every car has a different feel. It makes the business exciting. It inspires the designers who come to work every day trying to create something fresh and expressive and not fall into a formula.<\/p>\n
Our basic DNA is surfacing that\u2019s lean, yet muscular, athletic. Not excessive, not heavy. Very expressive. We look at our iconic cars like Camaro and Corvette as inspiration throughout our product line. There\u2019s a passion that Corvette and Camaro have that our leadership expects in everything we do whether a Spark or Corvette. (Each car) in our product line is very unique. The way the Camaro engine takes in air, it requires massive amounts of cooling, so the front grille gets big, very aggressive. Whereas Malibu is more efficient so it\u2019s sleeker, slimmer, more refined. Form follows function.<\/p>\n
Q:\u00a0You\u2019re a collector?<\/p>\n
Cafaro:\u00a0I\u2019ve been in and out of Corvettes. I have a 1965, right-hand drive Morgan. An old Ferrari 308 GT4. And I have an old street rod I\u2019d been working on for 13-14 years. A \u201933 roadster with a small block Chevy. That\u2019s my Dream Cruiser. If it makes it down to Ferndale without overheating it\u2019s a good day.<\/p>\n
Q:\u00a0And a racer?<\/p>\n
Cafaro:\u00a0I raced a Camaro Z28 in SCCA show-toon stock . . . from 1991-1994. Won the regional championship. Track record at Waterford. I got a lead foot \u2013 you got to get it out of your system somehow, not on the highway to work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It was love at first sight. Chevrolet design boss John Cafaro, 60, saw the original Stingray Corvette concept car at the 1964 New York Auto Show. He was nine years old. \u201cI wanted to go wherever that car was created. I wanted to work with those people,\u201d he remembers. Fifty years later and he oversees […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,87],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17657"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17657"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17657\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17658,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17657\/revisions\/17658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}