Looks like a miniaturized last gen Acura TL rip off to me.

 

How? The C pillar goes much farther back, and the rear is more slab-sided and horizontally cut. And the Cadillac hybrid doesn't look much at all like the Honda hybrid. If you're going to knock GM for supposedly ripping Honda, why not ask Honda why the new Insight's shape in silhouette would be practically indistinguishable from the Prius's, or how some of the details on Acura's cars ape Audi's?

And actually xmatt, you posted the Cien concept car, which was more Lambo than GT convertible. Granted the street XLR is damn plain in comparison, but the XLR didn't really come from the Cien. Cadillac's full-line styling did though.

 

[fanboi rationality] It's got four wheels... a fixed roof... and OMG IT'S A COUPE!!!!! THEY RIPPED OFF LORD HONDA BIG TIME!!! THAT'S TEH GHEY!!!!11 [/fanboi rationality]

 

The Volt production car was changed due to aerodynamics. The concept car had horrible aerodynamics when it came to fuel efficiency.

 

Wow the XLR could have been something special....the concept is amazing.

 

The Cien was not an XLR concept. It was a one-off concept super car V12 engine to compete with Enzo, ect. The XLR simply borrows some design cues from it.

 

Looks cool, but it will probably come out looking like this.....

 

Blah, you're absolutely right. I didn't even notice that was the Cien (despite the badge on the rear). What I mean to compare the XLR to was the Evoq, which *was* the concept car for the XLR. I think this still shows how GM always manages to take a compelling design and make it a lot less interesting. The Evoq wasn't some insane design study -- they could have built that design unchanged, although it might have cost them a bit more. Here it is:




Seems like only VAG is capable of going from awesome concept car to product without screwing things up.

 

Accountants design cars. The automotive stylists make the car look amazing and the engineers make the car perform amazingly. Then the accountants come in. The nice materials are scrapped, the fancy sheet metal shapes are scrapped in lieu of cheaper and boring ones, then the whole car is reengineered to fit on a shared platform with the same drivetrain as twelve other cars.

This is what really drew my eye to the S2000. Purpose-built, non-shared chassis, engine, transmission, etc.

 

Honestly, I think the production version of the Volt looks way better than the concept.

Dan