It’s not every day you get to see some of the hot cars starring in Transformers 4: Age of Extinction up close and personal, but GM invited us to see the Camaro-based Bumblebee, a rally-modified Chevrolet Sonic hatchback, and a muscled-up Corvette Stingray at its sprawling Design Center outside of Detroit.
The experience was augmented by a guided tour of the facilities conducted by design chief Ed Welburn, who also offered us a brief behind-the-scenes peek at the company’s tie-in with the Transformers franchise. He made sure to highlight that the GM Technical Center, design dome, and climate tunnel make appearances in the new film, as do about a dozen GM products new and old.
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GM’s design team worked closely with director Michael Bay—whom we just interviewed—and his crew to design the beat-up Sonic you see here as well as the new and improved non-production bodywork for Bumblebee. Ever the car guy, Bay wanted to use the new Corvette Z06 in the film, but GM didn’t want to expose the car early, so the director was stuck with the plain ol’ Stingray. To see all of the movie cars, you can catch the flick starting on June 27.
