GM Future Interior Components

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By Alborz Fallah | August 30th, 2007

General Motors today unveiled a bunch of new interior concepts. In an attempt to improve the company’s image of producing boring and uninspired interior clusters, GM has gone back to the drawing board and designed some excellent concepts.

Could one of these clusters represent the driver instrument panel of the next generation Commodore? Integrating the Sat Nav into the instrument cluster seems almost obvious, while highlighting the cars exact speed can be the license saving feature we’ve all been asking for.

Although the concept above looks futuristic in every sense of the word, there is something just a little odd about it, but we like the Sat Nav arrow sitting at the top of the middle cluster.

Leaving the best till last, this simple, yet complex instrument clusters shows the speed, RPM, fuel and oil temperature all in one!

280zx

Yeah lets talk about distracted driver die again???
Steve

Looks pretty, I have a hard time reading the characters. Not ideal for that quick glance to see how fast you’re going.
http://www.caradvice.com.au/ alborz

They all have a digital read out!
I think they are far easier to read than current clusters
http://. ROBERTO

Looks great and trendy and easier to read alright due to readout being digital. Last one looks retro, is it going into a Cadiallic???
Grumps

That last one looks like a watch!

I don’t mind the first one though.
Steve

alborz, you missed my point. The idea behind any display is much like a magazine or this site, you want the font colour to be in total contrast with the background.

That last one is hardly what I would consider safe, as I would have to glance at it for more than a second to determine what speed I am doing.

The first one is okay in that regard, but the font has a “glow” around it, making it appear “fuzzy”, not clear and crisp.

The instrument cluster in the middle has way too much going on. I’m not sure where to look.

Yel, they look good. No, they are not practical.
matt

calm down guys, they’re only concept designs. imo the first one looks great, i’ve actually wondered when something like this would be implemented, and with some slight tweaking i can reeeeeeeally see the first one working.
http://www.caradvice.com.au George

I’ve always wondered why we don’t just have an LCD panel to operate as the instrument cluster.

I like the first one, I’m not a fan of the more futuristic designs though – too Hollywood.
Macca

The first one looks the best, the second one is too futuristic, and the last one is too crammed with info in one dial.
http://www.caradvice.com.au Matt

Whilst they are kinda cool, I tend to agree with the idea of practicality / safety over looks. A lot of motorbike manufacturers, and some SAAB models have the right idea – display what is necessary until the information is required.

Speedo remains lit, but all other guages either light as needed or upon request. Far safer in my opinion than being befuddled with complex and often unrequired information.

Holden’s turn-by-turn Sat Nav is pretty good too. Simple, at a glance info instead of need to study maps.
John Thomas

I hope that they change from the $2000 Blauplunkt Full Colour Sat Nav to some other brand eg Garmin etc. The Sat Nav in my VE Calais along with other Blaupunkt owners that I know have found them most unreliable and useless.Still no satisfaction from Holden on fixing the problem after 10 weeks of persistant calls.
Joji

This is what I found the most useful so far- the speed are clear digits and the rpm is around it. ingenious. i miss the clarity in all those samples. The attention of driver is on the road. A glimpse should be enough to get the info he needs. good examples are the recent civic, euro yaris or citroen c2. if the cluster is too entertaining yuo could miss somebody or something on the road.