Wizard of Oz on Buick Road

The four-door Invicta has curves in all the right places.

 The four-door Invicta sedan is the work of former GM-Holden designer and Monash University graduate Justin Thompson, who says the classic Buick's cross member is an important part of the car. The span is a curved line along the sides of the car that descends towards the tailgate.

“We really only had one chance to get it right,” he says. "Designers were given five weeks to move from concept to reality."

Thompson spent seven years at GM-Holden before joining the overseas GM empire.

GM-Holden's experience has already been recognized as the parent company in the Denali XT four-door concept car unveiled earlier at the Chicago Auto Show in February.

The Denali was the work of the Holden design team in Melbourne. The importance of Invicta's presentation at the Beijing Auto Show last month did not escape the attention of GM management. Buick is GM's biggest passenger brand in the communist country. Last year, 332,115 vehicles were sold in China, significantly more than the 185,792 Buicks sold in the US.

The Invicta (Latin for "invincible") is the face of Buick's new global design and the evolution of the Riviera concept car.

It is powered by a four-cylinder turbocharged direct injection engine mated to a six-speed automatic transmission.

The engine delivers 186 kW/298 Nm, which is usually associated with a high-end six-cylinder engine. The vehicle was jointly developed by GM design centers in North America and China to meet the expectations of customers in two of the world's largest automotive markets.

Using virtual reality centers in Shanghai and Warren, Michigan, the designers combined the best ideas from both cultures.

Ed Welburn, GM vice president of global design, says the car sets a new design standard for Buick.

“This would not have been possible if one studio had worked in isolation,” he says.