John Manoogian II is an industrial designer, adjunct faculty member, automotive industry expert and automobile designer — widely known for his nearly 33-year career with General Motors, where he designed for the company's Chevrolet,

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, Buick,

Oldsmobile Oldsmobile or formally the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors was a brand of American automobiles, produced for most of its existence by General Motors. Originally established as "Olds Motor Vehicle Company" by Ransom E. Olds in 1897, it pro ...

and Cadillac divisions. At Cadillac, Manoogian's work spanned from the hastily conceived and oft-derided Cimarron to the second generation

Cadillac CTS The Cadillac CTS is an executive car that was manufactured and marketed by General Motors from 2003 until 2019 across three generations. Historically, it was priced similarly to cars on the compact luxury spectrum; but it has always been sized ...

Coupe, winner of the Motor Trend Car of the Year, Best Concept Car Design & Best Vehicle Design award at the 2008 North American International Auto Show, as well as the production and concept categories at

EyesOn Design EyesOn Design are a series of events including an annual car show and a fundraiser for the Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology. It has become a national event focused on the emotion and character of automotive design. History The Eyes on Design Sh ...

, an event judged by noted vehicle designers. After General Motors, Manoogian has served on the faculty at the

College of Creative Studies The College of Creative Studies is the smallest of the three undergraduate colleges at the University of California, Santa Barbara, unique within the University of California system in terms of structure and philosophy. Its small size, studen ...

as well as Design Director with Quadrobot Corporation, developers of a last mile, autonomous electric delivery vehicle.

Background

Manoogian was born in Detroit to Rose Violet Manoogian (1922-2018) and John Albert Manoogian (1921-2016), a former Marine in World War II — and later, manager of the Alpha Project,

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...

's advanced manufacturing program. Manoogian grew up in Michigan and after working as a designer/clay sculptor for Ford Motor Company, returned to school and received a B.A. 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 ...

, Los Angeles— and subsequently an M.B.A. from Oakland University, Rochester, MI.

Career

After joining the General Motors Design Staff in 1976, Manoogian acted as Assistant Chief Designer at Saturn Exterior, Pontiac Exterior, Cadillac Exterior; Chief Designer at Pontiac Exterior; Executive Vehicle Chief Designer at Buick, Chevrolet, Pontiac Exterior; and Director of Design at Cadillac Exterior. He designed two Presidential Limousines, 2006 and 2009; and interviewed and hired college graduates for design positions at GM Design. He has served as a Sheet Metal Subject Matter Expert and holds 3 design patents. Portfolio:
::1981

Cadillac Cimarron The Cadillac Cimarron is an entry-level luxury car manufactured and marketed by the Cadillac division of General Motors for model years 1982–1988 over a single generation, with a mild facelift in 1985. The first post-war compact car offered ...

::1996

Pontiac Grand Prix The Grand Prix is a line of automobiles produced by the Pontiac Division of General Motors from 1962 until 2002 for coupes and 1989–2008 for sedans. First introduced as a full-size performance coupe for the 1962 model year, the model varie ...

,
::2004

::2005 Cadillac DTS
::2006 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 ...

::2008

::2006 and 2009 USA Presidential Limousines
Manoogian formed a design consultancy, ''Forzablitz'', and has acted as an automotive design patent expert witness. He taught for seven years at the

. As an industry speaker, he has addressed the Industrial Designer's Society of America Annual Michigan conference on Transportation and the Portland Art Museum and has participated with numerous car clubs; appeared in the documentary "Detroit in Overdrive;" and acted as a design judge at the La Jolla,CA, Meadowbrook Concours,

Automotive Design Exhibition. In 2020, Manoogian served as Director of Design for Quadrobot Corporation, founded in 2017 by Mike Tianye Wang, a former student of Manoogian. The company is developing an autonomous, electric last mile delivery vehicle.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Manoogian II, John General Motors people Ford people Automobile designers General Motors designers American automobile designers Automotive businesspeople 1947 births Living people

Background

Career

See also

References