Few designers have left the type of impression on the automotive industry as Michael Simcoe.
The Australian started his career designing the famous Esky bricks and ended it as the global head of General Motors design. In the span of his career he was involved in dozens, if not hundreds of cars, and while some were simply purposeful others have become icons.
While individually attributing a design to a single person is disingenuous to the large teams behind them, Simcoe led several design teams throughout his career at Holden, GM Asia-Pacific and GM in North America and has been credited with the design of these five examples below.
READ MORE: Former Holden visionary to leave key General Motors role
Schuppan 962 CR
Yes, Porsche designed the original 962 prototype sportscar, but when Le Mans winner Vern Schuppan tried to turn it into a road-legal machine, Simcoe got involved. He was one of three designers who pitched ideas for the final design of what became known as the Schuppan 962 CR and had hands-on role in the project.
“Mike’s design was streets ahead of the others,” Schuppan said in a 2023 interview with Hagerty. “He was working for Saturn at the time in the US, going back and forth to England and not just designing the car but working on the buck, changing radii, spending all weekend on it.”
While the Schuppan project quickly folded amid the financial crisis of the early 1990s, Simcoe had created his first memorable design.
Holden Monaro
It has become the stuff of legend in the Australian automotive industry. The story goes that Simcoe began sketching a modern interpretation of the Monaro at home and it soon became an after-hours project for a small team of designers. When it was unveiled at the 1998 Sydney Motor Show as the Commodore Coupe concept it was an instant hit.
By 2000 the Monaro badge was attached to the now-production version of the car and it became a beacon of Holden’s design capability to the entire GM world and cemented Simcoe’s reputation within the company.
Holden VX Commodore
Off the back of the Monaro he was given charge of designing the VX Commodore to match. An evolution of the Peter Hughes-designed VT Commodore (in which Simcoe played a role as a part of the design team) this was the golden age of Holden’s local design and manufacturing.
During this time in the early 2000s and under Simcoe’s leadership Holden produced some of its boldest designs, including the Torana TT36 concept and expanded the Commodore range to include not only the Monaro but also the Crewman dual-cab ute and added the four-wheel drive models.
Holden VE Commodore
Appointed design director at Holden in 2001, Simcoe laid the visual foundations for the VE Commodore, the so-called ‘Billion Dollar Baby’ that was arguably the crowning achievement of the Australian automotive industry.
The VE was available in a sedan, ute and Sportwagon and is considered one of the best-looking Holden models ever produced.
Chevrolet, Cadillac and GMC
Since taking over his current position in 2016, Simcoe has overseen the creation of a design revolution at GM. He has helped create a more cohesive Chevrolet line-up, given GMC a more premium brand identity and brought Cadillac into the 21st century to better compete with European luxury brands.
While he can’t be credited with individual designs, his fingerprints are all over GM products of the past decade.
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