The Entranze might have been the most extravagant reveal of the entire show.
GAC Motor is a company that you might not have heard of, but if their plans work out then you might be hearing a whole lot about them very soon. The company is part of Guangzhou Automobile Group, which has joint ventures in China with Toyota, Honda, and Fiat. And they’re planning to come to North America, both with some real models they showed here and a new concept car.
The Entranze might have been the most extravagant reveal of the entire show. The three-minute long choreographed interpretive dance number was much more impressive and certainly less odorous than Ford’s parade of classic Shelby Mustangs accompanied by a cloud of semi-combusted hydrocarbons.
The Entranze had no-such cloud about it. It’s an electric seven-seater. They wouldn’t give out powertrain specs, but it’s nice to see a concept in the classic sense of the term. A car that has absolutely no chance for production as-seen, designed purely for the purposes of looking good. And with details like an interior made of sustainable materials like cork, and a pair of fuzzy dice in the mirror.
More importantly, it had clear doors and an interesting three-two-two seating layout. Yup, the good ‘ol front bench seat is back! Like most concepts, though, don’t expect much of this to make production.
The company that built it, GAC Motor, is an interesting endeavour. They were founded in 2008, which makes the real cars they had on display even more impressive. Even if the spec sheet they give is a little thin. There’s talk of 280T and 300T engines, but we’re not sure if that’s a power level, and there’s no cylinder counts in the official info. The one torque figure we saw was in a unit that didn’t really make sense so we won’t repeat it.
But they’re planning to open a new R&D facility in the home of the automobile, Detroit. And they have a design studio in LA. As per their presentation, expect them to show up sometime shortly after 2020. Though they aren’t putting out a timeline more firm than that for now.
If you haven’t heard more than that about GAC Motor, here’s a bit about them in their own words. The company was GAC’s effort to have their own brand, not just rebadge or joint venture with other automakers. Their first concept car debuted in 2009, with a sedan arriving to production the next year and an SUV the year after that. “GAC Motor believes if everyone dares to pursue greatness, the world would be a better place,” the company says in its 52-page long Brand Book. That seems a bit ambitious for a car company. Both the lofty goal and the 52 page tome. They even have a road to greatness poem which we won’t reproduce here but is probably worth a read.
The entire brand book is filled with famous poems, quotes from business gurus, and even from professional athletes. They’ve even broken out “greats” as their company principles. That’s GREATS: Glory to all, Reject the conventional path, Embrace a higher purpose, Adopt a practical attitude, Transcend the highest standards, and Strive for progress. It’s not exactly the document you’d expect from an automaker, but it’s one we’d kind of like to read from a few more. Dear Arial, makers of the stripped-down Atom; please give us 52 pages of your company principles, beliefs, and ambitions.
It’s an automaker that seems different, corporately at least, from anything currently in our market. But the cars look surprisingly good, new company or not. And their concept was interesting, though the clear doors (they looked to be plexiglass) looked like they had already seen some serious miles somewhere. They appeared scratched and smeared when the curtain came off. We’re also still not sure when, or even if, they’ll arrive in Canada, but we’re looking forward to driving one. But hey, in case that sounds a little overly positive toward GAC Motor, we look forward to driving everything.
Keyword: GAC Motor Shows Electric Concept, Sick Dance Moves in Detroit