GMC Granite Concept: God Is In The Details?

Despite some killer design details, the GMC Granite tries to mix "professional grade" looks with city-slicker size. The result? A concept that screams professional-grade hipster.

If brought to market, the Granite — a full 2 feet (0.6 m) shorter than the new Terrain compact crossover — would be the smallest GMC ever. It's designed by a group of young designers for young, urban professionals like themselves. These social, active hipsters are more likely to take friends to clubs and go on weekend excursions to Ikea than to haul lumber or tow a boat.

The only problem is that hauling lumber or towing boats have been what GMCs have historically been designed to do. True, the brand does have some people-hauling history, but that side's been most well-publicized by a crack commando unit sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit — not by young, spoiled brats in skinny, ball-huggingly-tight jeans. It just doesn't feel authentic.

"Granite was conceived as a new type of vehicle from GMC – one that could stretch people's ideas of what a GMC can be," said Lisa Hutchinson, product marketing director for GMC. She calls it an "urban utility vehicle" with a goal of redefining what the GMC name could mean to a new generation of customers looking for both bold design and functionality. The problem is maybe GMC's not that brand, no matter what now Pontiac-less GMC-Buick dealerships may wish it to be.

But the little design details? Damn, they're hot. The headlights just scream awesome. The taillights are something straight from a scifi graphic novella. The interior? A high-tech futurgasm!

Just don't look at the sum of the parts or else you'll find out that those details spell out D-O-G instead of G-O-D.