A massive fire has torn through GM’s Advanced Design Center in California, potentially reducing some of the company’s most confidential designs to ashes. The facility is where the brand’s dreams take shape, standing as GM’s playground for next-generation concepts and design studies. Early reports suggest that the blaze may have destroyed several concept vehicles, design mock-ups, and one-of-a-kind prototypes.
The GM Advanced Design Center was acquired by GM in 2021, refurbished, and opened for business last year. Now, some of its most precious cargo may be ash, including what could have been the 2026 Chevrolet Camaro comeback that a lot of people have been waiting for. The timing couldn’t be worse for any reveals, including new muscle cars, that GM might have been planning at the LA Auto Show scheduled for late November.
Concept Car Batteries Suspected Behind Inferno
The fire is suspected to have been caused by lithium-ion batteries in one or more of the concept cars inside. Over 100 firefighters from at least five cities responded to the fire. Multiple concept cars being developed by GM were burned, and firefighters had difficulty locating the fire inside the facility. At its peak, smoke filled the design center so thick that firefighters couldn’t see well enough to move safely. The cleanup is expected to take days.
Could a Camaro Concept Be Among the Losses?
There are rumors afoot that Chevrolet plans to revive the Camaro nameplate, potentially arriving as a 2027 model. There are a couple of smoking guns that point to the Camaro’s comeback. The first being a new Camaro trademark that GM filed for in Cambodia recently. The second is a design sketch of a new-generation Camaro, cheekily teased by GM Design on social media. While earlier speculation had the hopes of a new Camaro pointed in the direction of an all-electric crossover, or even sedan, the teased sketch says otherwise.
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It’s important to note that design studios don’t just display finished vehicles. They house clay models, full-scale prototypes, and styling exercises years before public reveals. If GM was developing a new Camaro for a 2026 or 2027 launch, GM’s California design center would be exactly where that work happens. The fire might have claimed more than sheet metal. It could have torched years of design development and potentially delayed one of the most anticipated muscle car comebacks in automotive history.
