As a girl growing up in Pasadena, California, Vicki Vlachakis sketched cars and dreamed of designing them. Now 34, she’s the creative force behind two of the hottest new convertibles on the road.
Success asked me to take a look at what drives her.
Vicki Vlachakis has a friendly, laid-back personality befitting a Southern California girl—but that doesn’t mean she isn’t full speed ahead when it comes to designing automobiles. Two jaunty cars that sprung in large part from her imaginative mind are the Pontiac Solstice and the Saturn Sky, two-seater convertibles that conjure up images of top-down, wind-blown rides along scenic highways. Only 34, Vlachakis is carving out a career creating vehicles that are made to be driven, bringing together form and function in the service of a higher calling than fetching groceries or chauffeuring kids to soccer practice.
“I love automotive design because cars are hugely important to people,” says Vlachakis. “Just look at the enthusiasm out there for customization and personalization.” Fittingly, Vlachakis hails from Pasadena, the suburban heart of Southern California car culture; but, she says, her cardiologist father and homemaker mother weren’t car enthusiasts when she was growing up. What steered Vlachakis toward the automotive world was her love of graphic design and figure drawing, which was fostered at the “Saturday High” classes at Art Center College of Design. The Pasadena-based school offers a renowned transportation design program that captivated Vlachakis. “It was the most intriguing discipline because the designs communicated what world and lifestyle the cars belonged to,” she says.
Vlachakis took courses at the Art Center’s Switzerland campus and began an internship with Audi in Munich that led to a job with Mercedes-Benz. The European method of car design had a profound influence on her. “In Europe, design is much more theoretical; building a car is like architecture, working millimeter by millimeter on proportion and balance,” she says. Spending four years at Mercedes-Benz taught her to approach design as a discipline, which served her well, especially considering the late ’90s aren’t generally regarded as a high point in American automotive history.
Homesick, Vlachakis returned in 2000 after being offered a job at the General Motors advanced design studio, which was reopened in California. The studio is a combination incubator, laboratory, and think tank where concept cars are born, away from the prying eyes of Detroit. “We are on our own here,” says Vlachakis, “which allows us to think about the big picture and if every vehicle supports the overall brand.” Shutting the white noise out and allowing designers to maintain focus gives them the chance to work more artistically in the early stages, before engineering and economic realities come to bear.
Early on, a GM “sketch blitz program” went out to designers in California, Detroit, and England for an affordable, back-to-basics roadster. The blitz is a competition among company peers; the winning sketches for the roadster’s exterior and interior came from Franz von Holzhausen and Vlachakis, his officemate. It was an exciting start for General Motors’ young design team—with one notable quirk. “I had never worked on an interior before,” says Vlachakis, “but I didn’t want to give away what I didn’t know, so naturally I said, Sure, I can do that.”
Vlachakis notes that interiors are based on details, which should theoretically come naturally to women. “In general, we notice things like the baubles and beads on handbags and earrings,” she says. “But it’s actually tougher for me because I like the big picture, the shape and functionality.” In October 2001, she dove into the whirlwind Solstice assignment. Automotive design can be a glacial process, but their project went from drawing board to concept car in four short months.
“It was incredibly fast, but it was great because we were able to keep the original theme of the Solstice even after everyone got involved,” says Vlachakis. The team had tight time constraints, so they skipped small-scale iterations and went straight to a full-size clay model. The Solstice exterior features a wraparound pod shape that took its inspiration from classic sports cars like the Cheetah racers and the Ferrari GTOs of the ’60s. Vlachakis took cues from von Holzhausen and approached the interior with the idea of keeping the layout simple, no clutter or complicated features. “I wanted to communicate the fun of driving,” she says, “because, ultimately, the interior is what sells the car when a driver sits in it, so it has to hold up.”
The Solstice held up. In 2002, the concept car was unveiled at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit to much fanfare, winning Autoweek’s “Best in Show.” A concept car is often just that: A fleeting automotive creation never to be seen again, at least in its original form. The Solstice, however, was immediately put into production and became the fastest GM vehicle to go from a ground-up design to rolling off the assembly line. Vlachakis was part of the process every step of the way. At one point, she went to Detroit for a different project and decided to sit in on the meetings for the Solstice. “I just started showing up,” she says. Vlachakis knew more about the car than anyone else, so she immersed herself in all facets of the process, working in concert with engineering and manufacturing on subtle but important details, such as the best spot for the gearshift. “Sometimes there is a wall between design and engineering in the United States,” she says, “but that doesn’t exist in Europe, so to me it was totally natural [to be involved].”
By late autumn of 2005, the five-speed manual, rear-wheel drive, 2.4-liter, 177 horsepower, DOHC, four-cylinder 2006 Pontiac Solstice started appearing in showrooms. The Solstice production was autobahn speed in a school zone industry and it was a smash hit, selling more than 16,000 units in the first six months, capturing the number-one slot in its category, and garnering a nomination for North American Car of the Year honors (it lost to the Honda Civic). Gary Vasilash, Editor in chief at Automotive Design & Production, is a fan.
“The Solstice has substance to its design and an attention to detail that is uncharacteristic of many GM cars, and this is a good thing,” he says. “Vlachakis has an acute eye for interiors.”
The numbers and accolades are nice, but sales data and critical acclaim can’t compete with seeing her work on the road. For Vlachakis, the ultimate marker of success came when she saw a Pontiac Solstice cruising down Pacific Coast Highway near her Malibu home. “After spending three years working on the Solstice, it was amazing to see it on the road and know that somebody bought one,” she says. Malibu isn’t just a source of personal satisfaction, however, it is also one of many sources of inspiration for Vlachakis. She often goes to a local coffee shop on weekend mornings to check out the stylings of classic car collectors who come to sip lattes and show off their toys. A roadster girl at heart, she says one of her all-time favorites is the Alfa Romeo Spider. (The 1966 model was famously driven by Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate.)
Vlachakis is far from a typical gearhead though. She lives the successful life she first envisioned in art school on her frequent travels throughout the world. She is constantly looking at art, fashion, and architecture to stoke the creative impulses. She lists the Guggenheim Bilbao structure and the Rem Koolhaus-designed Prada flagship store in New York City as recent jewels, but adds that much of her inspiration comes from simply opening her eyes. “I am a people-watcher,” she says. “That’s part of being a designer, always looking around at what’s going on.”
One of the things going on in the car world is the rollout of the Saturn Sky, a more expensive convertible that Vlachakis describes as crisp, edgy, modern, and symmetrical. One might think that another roadster would be second nature, falling right into her wheelhouse, but Vlachakis says matter-of-factly, “you are only as good as your last car, and it’s always a moving target.” There wasn’t much time for her to pat herself on the back once she began working on the Sky.
Besides, there are too many people involved in the process for Vlachakis to let her designs go to her head. “I never stop and think, I’m successful, because success can only come when we exceed our design expectations as a team,” she says. “And ultimately, the general public defines us.” It appears as though John Q. Freeway is defining the design team as a winner: 2,500 units of the 2007 Saturn Sky were moved in its first three months on the market, and it was soon sold out for the calendar year. At some point down the line, Vlachakis would like to take her design talents to another industry, and she envisions having a wide range of career experiences rather than a job for life. Be it product or fashion design, Vlachakis would love to build a brand from scratch and, at her young age, there is plenty of time for that. For the time being, though, she is thrilled to be living well SoCal-style while artfully attacking the challenge of her next top-secret project. “Designing a new car is extremely exciting, because the vehicle you drive is central to all aspects of your life,” she says.
The Six Steps to Creating the Pontiac Solstice
01 Inspiration: The theme of the Solstice was a back-to-basics roadster, and the interior takes that approach with gauges inspired by classic motorcycles from manufacturers like Benelli and Moto Guzzi.
02 Sketches: We found out about the “sketch blitz” less than a week before they were shown to (then) GM Chairman Bob Lutz. I did four sketches before the in-house competition and my interior design won.
03 Clay Models: For the Solstice, we skipped small scale and went right to the full-size clay models because of the time constraints, which meant a lot of moving big surfaces until we were satisfied with the proportion.
04 Prototypes: The Solstice was actually a metal prototype, which is a lot more complicated than a fiberglass vehicle.
05 Concept Car: We showed our Solstice concept car at the 2002 Detroit Auto Show. It’s a way to expose the public to new vehicle forms, types and technologies, and then gauge their reaction. The Solstice was a “runner,” which means that you could drive it to about 45 mph, but some of the functions did not work such as the radio and air conditioning. We built it out of metal to make it feel more like a real vehicle with stamped body panels that had realistic flanging. Flanging is when the metal is turned down in areas like the wheel arches. We got great reviews and it helped drive the commitment to building the vehicle.
06 On the Road: There is nothing more satisfying than seeing the car you’ve been working out on the highway or sitting in your garage—i know because i drive a Solstice. It’s so cool!
Excuse Us While We Kiss the Sky
The genius of The 2007 Saturn Sky is implied in its name. Before firing up the engine, the Sky tells the driver that there is a vast blue atmosphere and they should be out tooling around America’s roads underneath it. It’s hard not to get excited after folding the cloth top into the trunk and feeling the hot summer sun shining down on the sleek, solid two-seater convertible. The Sky is that kind of car, a sporty little package, tight and angular, that handles well and zips through traffic with aplomb.
It isn’t a pie-in-the-sky purchase either. The Sky starts at $23,690, and the five-speed automatic vehicle I piloted included a leather-wrapped steering wheel and a stereo system with iPod plug-in capability for only $25,880. The Vicki Vlachakis-designed interior is clean and comfortable, particularly the two-toned seats, chrome accents and ample headroom. Although fun to drive, the 2.4-liter 177hp 4-cylinder engine isn’t a masher and the Sky had to work in the mountains of New Hampshire. And don’t plan for more than an overnight trip because the trunk space in the open-air mode barely has room for a change of clothes. Still, the Sky is a sharp-looking car with enough attitude to let drivers get out in style.
The Sky may not be the limit, but it’s an entertaining roadster just the same.
(Photos by Amanda Friedman.)
(Sky photo courtesy of GM.)
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