GM DIVERSITY NEWSLETTER

GM flexes muscle at the 2007 SEMA SHOW

LAS VEGAS – A diverse array of customized and high-performance cars, trucks and SUVs again dominated the General Motors display at the 2007 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show.

Celebrity endorsements were also in full force all over the SEMA show floor as three urban-inspired Enclaves customized by a trio of the industry’s most influential designers, including Rick Bottom, former NBA star Jerome Williams’ Automotive Street Style, and Mitek were on display, along with a new Pontiac G8 GT built by rapper 50 Cent and Unique Autosports.

Rapper 50 Cent shows off the tricked-out Pontiac
G8 he customized with Unique Autosports and
General Motors during the SEMA after-market
auto show in Las Vegas.

50 Cent’s New Whip
With lyrics that don’t pull punches and themes that are brutally honest, rapper 50 Cent (a.k.a. Curtis Jackson) has risen to the top of the hip hop scene. He’s also a passionate car enthusiast with a penchant for Pontiacs – his video for the song “Amusement Park” featured the G6 GXP and G8 concept cars.

Now, 50 Cent has teamed up with Pontiac and New York-based tuner to the stars, Will Castro, and his shop, Unique Autosports (the same shop featured on the television show “Unique Whips”), to build a one-of-a-kind G8 performance sedan.

“Partnering with Pontiac has given me the opportunity to create something truly unique – a customized performance vehicle I am really proud of,” said 50. “The G8 is like none other and it pushes the boundaries of what people think a car has to be.”

The new G8 – which goes on sale nationally in early 2008 – is totally customized, with custom paint and exterior appointments, as well as a re-trimmed interior outfitted with an audio system that shakes the ground as much as 50 Cent’s three albums shook up the charts. The car is powered by an LSX 427 engine dyno-tested to more than 500 horsepower and assembled only with components available from the GM Performance Parts catalog or GM Parts.

Former NBA star Jerome Williams shows off the
tricked-out Buick Enclave his own auto custom
shop, Automotive Street Style, customized for
the SEMA after-market auto show in Las Vegas.

Enclaves of Style and Luxury
From a tenacious player on the basketball court to a respected automotive stylist off, nine-year NBA veteran Jerome “Junk Yard Dog” Williams puts the same resolve into vehicle customization as he did on the hardwood. Williams and his company, Automotive Street Style, have teamed up with Buick to create a vehicle that appeals to today’s urban influencers. The result is a luxury crossover that Williams has dubbed the “Buick Enclave Urban CEO Edition.”

“Buick is all about style, elegance, luxury and refinement. Those attributes are perfectly represented in Enclave. With the Buick Enclave Urban CEO Edition, our goal was to accentuate those qualities while creating a vehicle that befits an urban CEO,” said Williams. The Buick Urban CEO Edition represents the first vehicle collaboration between the NBA veteran and GM.

The 2008 Buick Enclave lends itself to high-end customization by delivering high-fashion design, luxurious interior comfort and a smooth, quiet ride.

“Buick’s resurgence is apparent in its current vehicles: LaCrosse, Lucerne and Enclave; it’s a brand with a historically strong appeal in the urban market. Our Buick Enclave Urban CEO Edition takes Enclave’s already stellar level of luxury and style and raises it another level. It’s a slam dunk for urban CEOs, athletes and even soccer moms,” Williams said.

Buick Enclave Uptown.

“Uptown.” The phrase conjures images of sophisticated luxury – timeless elegance with a flavor for the avant-garde. It is fine furnishings and the latest electronics, cool jazz with an equal dose of hot salsa. It’s the blending of two colors to create a distinctive new shade. That’s the premise behind the Buick Enclave UpTown, created by Rick Bottom Designs of Mendota, Ill.

The literal representation of Buick Enclave UpTown’s Ying and Yang is the two-tone paint theme – White Chocolate Pearl on top and Cocoa Metallic on the bottom. The paint is separated and accentuated by the discriminating use of custom chrome trim – the latter complementing the chrome trim found on production Enclaves, including on the front and rear bumper fascias, the grille surround and the renowned portholes. The Enclave Uptown is instantly noticed thanks to its production chrome vertical waterfall grille and Buick tri-shield.

Proving that a luxury crossover can be sporty, Enclave UpTown has been lowered two inches in the front, three inches in the rear and outfitted with 22-inch MOMO wheels and Pirelli tires. The result is a ground-hugging athletic appearance.

Platinum’s rarity has long made it the metal of choice for nobility and the affluent – more so than gold. Black, meanwhile, has traditionally been associated with refinement … a confident elegance, demonstrated by the black tuxedo, black dress or color-of-choice for luxury vehicles. Black and platinum merge seamlessly in the Buick Enclave Black Platinum Edition, a creation of Mitek Corporation of Phoenix, Ariz.

This custom Enclave is a head-turner. Its House of Kolor Black Diamond custom paint glimmers and appears to change hue depending on the viewer’s angle: black, blue or purple. Your eyes run effortlessly down the vehicle’s profile, which is accentuated by darkened windows and doors without handles. Custom 20-inch TIS chrome wheels equipped with 20-inch Toyo Proxes tires and custom springs – which lower the vehicle height by two inches – combine to create a pavement-hugging, ready-to-pounce appearance. Up front, Buick Enclave Black Platinum Edition wears the new face of production Enclaves, a vertical chrome waterfall grille.

Additional GM concept and specialty vehicles shown at SEMA include:

Cadillac – Factory customized CTS Sport and Escalade Sport concepts show how sporty these new models can look with a few, carefully crafted styling and stance enhancements.

Chevrolet – Chevy featured a bevy of tricked-out trucks and custom cars, including:

E85-powered Corvette Z06 owned by Jay Leno. The “Tonight Show” host’s new supercar boasts a custom, 500-cubic-inch engine that generates approximately 600 horsepower and is fueled solely by E85.
FlexFuel Chevy Hot Rod, built by GM Performance Division, a re-creation of the hot rods that competed at early drag strips and land-speed venues of the late 1940s and 1950s. With bodywork inspired by a 1934 Chevy and period styling touches, FlexFuel Chevy Hot Rod mixes vintage style with contemporary technology; it’s powered by a 500-horse FlexFuel version of the turbocharged Ecotec engine. It runs on E85, gasoline or any combination of the two.
Silverado HD Crew Cab Z71 “Big Red” concept, influenced by last year’s Dale Earnhardt Jr. Big Red concept
Silverado HD Country Music concept with fold-out, portable stage
Silverado Major League Baseball show vehicle
Silverado/GM Performance Parts LSX-powered regular cab truck with 640 horsepower
Suburban HD Z71 diesel, with a new 4.5L diesel engine
Camaro Convertible concept
Impala SS “Car of Tomorrow” NASCAR racecar show vehicle

GMC – The Yukon All-Terrain show vehicle follows in the tracks of last year’s Sierra All-Terrain concept and is designed to complement active lifestyles; and the Sierra HD Denali is a “what if” look at applying GMC’s most premium aesthetic to the Sierra 2500HD.

HUMMER – A pair of serious off-roaders is on hand, including the racing-inspired H3R and the adventure-seeking H2 Safari.

Pontiac – Along with a completely customized G8 GT from 50 Cent and Unique Autosports, Pontiac unveiled the Solstice SD-290 concept, which showcases a unique passenger compartment closeout evoking the spirit of vintage racecars, and a slightly enhanced version of the G8 GT production model.

Saturn – Marking the introduction of the all-new Astra sport-compact, Saturn showed off a tuner-inspired example that uses subtle exterior and chassis mods, as well as unique wheels, to give the car a street-wise stance.

GM Accessories and GM Performance Parts

Chevrolet Tahoe Street Tuner with D22 Wheels..

In addition to the concept vehicles at the GM display, GM introduced products and initiatives that will surely influence enthusiast projects of the near future, including a collaboration with DUB to develop a variety of appearance and performance components.

GM and TIS Industries, operated by the creators of DUB Magazine, used the SEMA show to announce that they will team up on a D20 collection of aftermarket wheels exclusively for GM trucks and SUVs with the hope of eventually including additional vehicle personalization accessories for GM cars and trucks.

The collaboration brings the trend-setting power of Myles Kovacs and the team behind DUB Magazine, considered the leading urban automotive lifestyle authorities because of their successful integration of music, celebrities and car culture – with the industry-leading quality and massive reach of GM.

GM will offer 20-inch and 22-inch wheels featuring the new “D20” brand created by Kovacs and his creative team in what the two companies hope is the first step in a long-term collaboration between GM and the creators of DUB Magazine. The D20 and D22 wheels will be sold exclusively through GM dealers nationwide and will begin hitting dealer showrooms in the first quarter of 2008. Both companies hope the current agreement for D20 wheels will lead to co-branded and co-designed special grilles, ground effects kits and electronics.

“Vehicle personalization gets hotter every year, and while much of that is driven by wheels and tires, it has become so much more,” said Eric Cunningham, director of marketing for GM Accessories. “DUB co-founder and president Myles Kovacs and his team at TIS Industries and DUB Magazine are design innovators, and they have amazing credibility among urban automotive enthusiasts and important celebrity influencers.

“This collaboration gives us a tremendous creative edge as we tap into the eyes, ears and creativity of the DUB Magazine team to enhance our accessories portfolio and meet the demands of GM’s diverse customer base, everyone from moms to tuners.”

To view more photos of the GM vehicles unveiled at the 2007 SEMA Show, click here http://media.gm.com/us/gm/en/news/events/sema/07sema/index.html.

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