(continued from above)
Buick's color and trim designers worked from a palette of cabernet red, dark
cocoa brown and caramel chocochino. They took inspiration from the burnished
metal of antique jewelry, ombr patina on vintage guitars and flocked lining of
keepsake boxes. For GL's French-stitched premium leather seats, the designers
looked to the understated elegance of classic club chairs and contours of
windswept sand dunes. And their use of smooth suede for the headliner is
designed to invite one's touch like a favorite pair of gloves.
"The LaCrosse GL concept expresses Buick's distinctly human kind of luxury - one
that is as warmly inviting as it is elegant and refined," said David Lyon,
executive director of design. "The design cues that already distinguish the
production LaCrosse - such as the premium leather-upholstered seats, ice blue
ambient lighting and soft touch surfaces - are amplified in the GL and serve as
inspiration for future Buick models."
LaCrosse GL's cabernet red exterior paint is complemented by brushed and tinted
chrome accents on the grille, door handles and deck lid, as well as around the
windows, taillights and headlights. Machine-face, satin-finish 20-inch rims fill
the wheel wells for a firmly planted appearance.
"The brushed-and-tinted chrome trim gives the GL a more subdued appearance than
if we had used bright chrome. The overall effect is more in keeping with Buick's
quietly confident aesthetic," said Magdalena Kokoszynska, creative designer on
LaCrosse GL.
Open the GL's doors and backlit Buick-emblazoned sill plates invite one to enter
like illuminated welcome mats.
Take a seat and one is ensconced in luxury, enveloped by flowing sculptural
surfaces finished in a rich blend of warm-hued materials. They offer soft-touch
refinement and surprise-and-delight details. The seats, doors and instrument
panel surfaces are finished in contrasting dark cocoa brown and caramel
chocochino leather. The seat cushions' pillowed surfaces evoke windswept sand
dunes, and the ice-blue French stitching along their seams harmonize with
Buick's signature ambient lighting.
Overhead, one finds a rich chocochino suede headliner - a material and usage
rarely seen in anything but the most luxurious automotive interiors. This
butter-soft material also accents the steering wheel, inviting one's touch.
Like the GL's exterior trim pieces, the interior metal accents on the instrument
cluster and center stack controls are a darker, warmer hue, and are complemented
by the swirling grain of wood trim on the steering wheel and dash that evokes
the ombr patina fade found on classic Gibson Les Paul guitars.
Attention to detail also is evident underfoot, where leather-surged and
accent-stitched floor mats offer further refinement. Likewise, the storage
compartments are flocked like the interior of a jewel box.
"Every surface in the interior of the LaCrosse GL has been crafted with the
knowledge that Buick customers enjoy the finer things in life, but don't need to
flaunt it," Kokoszynska said.
