Michael "Mike" Simcoe (born 1959–1960) is an
automobile designer from
Melbourne
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
.
He most recently served as
General Motors
General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...
' Vice President of Global Design.
Simcoe received an Associate Diploma of Art Industrial Design from the
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. He joined
GM Holden
Holden, formerly known as General Motors-Holden, was an Australian subsidiary company of General Motors. Founded in Adelaide, it was an automobile manufacturer, importer, and exporter that sold cars under its own marque in Australia. It wa ...
as a designer in 1983, and was subsequently promoted to senior designer and chief designer in 1985 and 1987 respectively. In 1995, he became director of Design for GM Asia Pacific, overlooking collaborative projects with
Daewoo
Daewoo ( ; ; ; ; literally "great universe" and a portmanteau of "''dae''" meaning great, and the given name of founder and chairman Kim Woo-choong) also known as the Daewoo Group, was a major South Korean chaebol (type of conglomerate) and aut ...
,
Suzuki
is a Japanese multinational mobility manufacturer headquartered in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, Shizuoka. It manufactures automobiles, motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), outboard motor, outboard marine engines, wheelchairs and a va ...
,
Fuji Heavy Industries
, formerly , is a Japanese multinational corporation and conglomerate primarily involved in both terrestrial and aerospace transportation manufacturing. It is best known for its line of Subaru automobiles. Founded in 1953, the company was named ...
and
Isuzu
, commonly known as Isuzu (, ), is a Japanese multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture. Its principal activity is the production, marketing and sale of Isuzu commercial vehicles and diesel engines ...
. He was appointed director of Design at GM Holden in 2001, and later executive director of Asia Pacific Design in 2003, establishing
GM Korea Design Operations.
He was also Executive Director North American Exterior Design and Global Architecture Strategy starting from 2004, supervising various designs such as the
Buick LaCrosse
The Buick LaCrosse is a four-door, front-wheel-drive sedan manufactured by Buick since model year 2005, and marketed variously across four generations for the North American and Chinese markets.
The first-generation LaCrosse replaced the Centu ...
,
Cadillac CTS
The Cadillac CTS is a luxury car, manufactured and marketed by General Motors from 2003 until 2019 across three generations.
Initially available as a 4-door sedan using the GM Sigma platform, GM offered the second generation CTS in 4-door ...
and
Chevrolet Camaro
The Chevrolet Camaro is a mid-size American automobile manufactured by Chevrolet, classified as a pony car. It first went on sale on September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year and was designed to compete with the Ford Mustang. The Camaro sha ...
. The most recent position he held before becoming Vice President of Global Design was being the executive director of General Motors International Operations Design from in 2011.
Following
Ed Welburn's announcement on April 8, 2016, that he would retire after 44 years at General Motors, Simcoe received the position of Vice President of Global Design, effective July 1, 2016. He was Vice President of Design for General Motors from 1986 to 1992, one of seven to have held the position, including
Harley Earl
Harley Jarvis Earl (November 22, 1893 – April 10, 1969) was an American Automotive design, automotive designer and business executive. He was the initial designated head of design at General Motors, later becoming vice president, the first ...
,
Bill Mitchell,
Irv Rybicki,
Chuck Jordan,
Wayne Cherry and Ed Welburn.
Simcoe stepped down from his vice presidency role at GM on 1 July 2025; he was replaced by
Bryan Nesbitt.
Notable designs
*
Schuppan 962CR (1992)
*
Holden Coupe concept (1998)
*
Holden Commodore (VX) (2000)
*
Holden Caprice/Statesman (WH) (2000)
*
Holden Monaro (2001)
*
Holden Commodore (VE)
The Holden Commodore (VE) is a full-size car that was produced from 2006 to 2013 by Holden, the former Australian subsidiary of General Motors. Dubbed Holden's "billion dollar baby", the car was available as the Holden Berlina—the mid-ra ...
(2006)
*
Holden Caprice (WM) (2006)
*
Buick Avenir (2015)
*
Chevrolet Bolt concept (2015)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simcoe, Michael
Living people
Australian businesspeople
General Motors designers
Australian automobile designers
1959 births