Bryan Edward Nesbitt (b. January 24, 1969 in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1,608,139 residents as of 2020. It is the fifth-most populous city in the United States, and the on ...

) is an

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarde ...

designer and currently head of

General Motors Corporation The General Motors Company (GM) is an American multinational automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and was the largest in the world for 77 years bef ...

International Operations Design, based in Shanghai, China. Nesbitt is also brand chairman for Wuling and

Baojun Baojun () is a Chinese automobile marque owned by a joint venture of General Motors and SAIC Motor, SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile. History The Baojun marque was established in 2010 as a cheaper alternative to existing GM brands Chevrolet and Buic ...

, two automakers with which GM has joint ventures. Previously Nesbitt had held the position of GM's North American Exterior Design and Global Architecture Strategy and had been a designer with Chrysler. Several of his more prominent styling contributions have been to the

Chrysler PT Cruiser The Chrysler PT Cruiser is a retro-styled compact car manufactured and marketed internationally by Chrysler in 5-door hatchback wagon (2001–2010) and 2-door convertible (2005–2008) body styles—over a single generation, with an intermedia ...

, the similarly

retro Retro style is imitative or consciously derivative of lifestyles, trends, or art forms from history, including in music, modes, fashions, or attitudes. In popular culture, the "nostalgia cycle" is typically for the two decades that begin 20–30 ...

Chevrolet HHR The Chevrolet HHR (an initialism for Heritage High Roof) is a retro-styled, high-roofed, five-door, five-passenger, front-wheel drive crossover designed by Bryan Nesbitt and launched by the American automaker Chevrolet at the 2005 Los Angeles A ...

, the seventh generation Chevrolet Malibu. and the 1997 Chrysler CCV, which had been conceived as a Chinese people's car with bodywork constructed of recycled plastic bottles.

Background

Bryan Edward Nesbitt was born in

and had wanted to be an automobile designer since his childhood. He studied Architecture and Industrial Design at the Georgia Institute of Technology and holds a bachelor's degree with Honors in Transportation Design from the

Art Center College of Design Art Center College of Design (stylized as ArtCenter College of Design) is a private art college in Pasadena, California. History ArtCenter College of Design was founded in 1930 in downtown Los Angeles as the Art Center School. In 1935, Fred ...

in Pasadena, California. Speaking of the childhood influences on his design perspective, Nesbitt cited several summer drives across North America in an

AMC Gremlin The AMC Gremlin (also American Motors Gremlin) is a subcompact automobile introduced in 1970, manufactured and marketed in a single, two-door body style (1970–1978) by American Motors Corporation (AMC), as well as in Mexico (1974–1983) by A ...

with his mother:

Career

DaimlerChrysler The Mercedes-Benz Group AG (previously named Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler and Daimler) is a German multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of the world's leading car manufacture ...

for seven years, Nesbitt designed the 1999 PT Cruiser concept vehicles, the 1998 Chrysler Pronto Cruizer and the 1997 Chrysler CCV. Nesbitt joined General Motors in April 2001 as chief designer for the Chevrolet brand. In January 2002, Nesbitt was appointed executive director in design and body-frame integral architectures for all North American GM brands. He became Executive Director of GM Europe Design in February 2004, and was responsible for all Opel,

Saab Saab or SAAB may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Saab Group, a Swedish aerospace and defence company, formerly known as SAAB, and later as Saab AB ** Datasaab, a former computer company, started as spin off from Saab AB * Saab Automobile, a fo ...

, and

Vauxhall Vauxhall ( ) is a district in South West London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. Vauxhall was part of Surrey until 1889 when the County of London was created. Named after a medieval manor, "Fox Hall", it became well known for ...

design activities. In June 2007, he returned to the U.S. as the General Motors Vice-President of Design for North America, responsible for all brands marketed and sold in the United States, Canada, and Mexico—at the time those were Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick,

Pontiac Pontiac may refer to: *Pontiac (automobile), a car brand *Pontiac (Ottawa leader) ( – 1769), a Native American war chief Places and jurisdictions Canada *Pontiac, Quebec, a municipality ** Apostolic Vicariate of Pontiac, now the Roman Catholic D ...

, Saturn, GMC, and

Hummer Hummer (stylized as HUMMER) is a brand of pickups and SUVs that was first marketed in 1992 when AM General began selling a civilian version of the M998 Humvee. Although discontinued in 2010, Hummer returned as a sub-brand of GMC in 2020. ...

. In July 2009, GM put Nesbitt in charge of the Cadillac brand, then removed him from that position on 2 March 2010 back to his old position as executive director of the advanced concept group. As one of the youngest GM designers, Nesbitt contributed to the design of the

Pontiac Solstice The Pontiac Solstice is a sports car that was produced by Pontiac. Introduced at the 2004 North American International Auto Show, the Solstice roadster began production in Wilmington, Delaware, starting in mid-2005 for the 2006 model year. It ...

, Pontiac G6 coupe, Cadillac DTS and BLS, Buick Lucerne,

Chevrolet Impala The Chevrolet Impala () is a full-size car built by Chevrolet for model years 1958 to 1985, 1994 to 1996, and 2000 to 2020. The Impala was Chevrolet's popular flagship passenger car and was among the better-selling American-made automobiles in ...

, HHR and

Cobalt Cobalt is a chemical element with the symbol Co and atomic number 27. As with nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in a chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. The free element, p ...

coupe, Saturn Aura and

Sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space. In the field of astronomy, ...

, and

GMC Acadia The GMC Acadia is a crossover SUV manufactured by General Motors for its GMC marque. The first-generation GMC Acadia shared the GM Lambda platform with the Saturn Outlook, the Chevrolet Traverse, and the Buick Enclave. The Acadia went on sal ...

, Saturn Outlook, and

Buick Enclave The Buick Enclave is a three-row luxury crossover SUV produced by General Motors since 2007. It was previewed at the 2006 North American International Auto Show, officially as a concept car, making it the first Lambda vehicle to be displayed. ...

. In a 2001

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgi ...

article, Bob Lutz clarified Nesbitt's role in the Chevrolet HHR design: In a July 2008 interview for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Nesbitt spoke of his design philosophy at GM: Nesbitt won an Automotive Hall Of Fame 2002 Young Leadership And Excellence Award while at GM.

References

External links

Photo of Bryan Nesbitt

Bryan Nesbitt presents the Saab 9-4x BioPower Concept at the Boston Auto Show, Jan 2008
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nesbitt, Bryan American automobile designers Chrysler designers General Motors designers Living people 1969 births Georgia Tech alumni Opel designers