The best of both worlds?
Buick is showing a study model that harks back to a period when the United States and what was then the Soviet Union were fighting each other in the field of space and aviation technology. Meet the Buick Electra Orbit. It doesn’t come from the United States, but… from China!
From the second half of the 1950s, major influences from space and aviation technology seeped into industrial design. Refrigerators, motorcycles and even cars were given exuberant designs, full of so-called aerodynamic wings, fins, extensions, convex shapes and other interesting elements. From Cadillac to Chevrolet and from Chrysler to Ford: virtually every American manufacturer joined in. So did Buick. With this Buick Electra Orbit Concept, it is in a sense breathing new life into this interesting design period.
The Buick Electra Orbit also breathes the atmosphere of study models from the early 90s.
The Buick Electra Orbit Concept comes from the GM China Advanced Design Center. According to the creatives, the show car is a fusion of the romance of the 1950s, modern technology and fully electric drive. The makers say nothing further about the drive, after all, this is about the design.
The almost six meter long and two meter wide behemoth has a bullet-shaped rear end with two spoilers that unfold from a certain speed. 24-inch wheels, a smooth shape and strikingly small headlights: it’s all there. The 2+2-seater has a modular interior that – if you switch on the autonomous driving mode – changes layout. Of course, behind the doors that tilt sideways and upwards at the front and rear, there are the necessary screens hidden. In the center tunnel there is a ball-shaped control organ with which, according to Buick, you operate various functions of the car. How exactly is not entirely clear. In any case, we don’t care at all. As far as we are concerned, this Extra Orbit Concept is more than worth a look.