Unfortunately, car makers sometimes jump the gun so to speak and release a concept that doesn't necessarily represent the true direction of the company. That, our friend, is a no no that can lead to a lot of confusion for the car maker and perspective buyers.
Witness the story of the Buick Blackhawk, a concept car that was never released by General Motors. According to the Copley News Service (via the
Boston Globe), it was killed unceremoniously by the company's design chief at the time, Wayne Cherry, because it didn't represent the "true" direction of GM. Apparently back then -- the Spring of 2000 -- GM had its worldwide presence but the central government in Detroit, so to speak, didn't have as much control over its spread-out parts. People who designed for these studios answered to their local bosses not Detroit. So, obviously, the result was renegade designs (at least from GM's viewpoint).
The experience of the Blackhawk brought on some definite changes. Now Detroit makes the final decision. But all regions, from Germany, Australia, India, South Korea, Brazil, China, as well as studios in California and Michigan are involved. Moreover, designers are rotated from design studio to design studio worldwide.
Our take? Of course, this can only help to influence the company's designers about what works in other regions of the world and thus influencing how they design future cars. Seems like GM learned from a previous mistake. Kudos for that.