GMC Once Envisioned A Future Where Californians Saved On Rent By Living In A Weird Diesel-Electric Hybrid RV

If you’re a resident of California, I don’t need to tell you this, but the rent is too darn high. In fact, it seems like everything everywhere has gotten way too expensive. In 2006, GMC designers presented their idea for the ultimate RV that could also be an affordable house, something startup companies are still futzing around with today. This is the 2006 GMC Pad and it remains one of the weirdest RV concepts shown at an auto show.

Using RVs and other weird structures to solve the housing crisis seems to be a favorite idea of Californian startups right now. Earlier this year, I wrote about how the Pininfarina-designed AC Future Electric Transformer House is designed to be both the best camper and the solution to housing problems. These concepts sound okay on paper but not only do they often have that vaporware feel, there’s always a big catch. The Electric Transformer House is supposed to cost $200,000. If you can’t afford rent, you’re definitely not buying a $200,000 RV.

But I’d expect ambitious promises with huge caveats from startup companies; I would’t expect it from established automakers, so you could imagine my surprise when the Bishop told me GMC once got in on the idea of solving housing problems with RVs.

The 2006 Los Angeles Auto Show Design Challenge

So, let’s get the big question out of the way first. Why were GM’s designers tasking themselves with penning something that could solve housing problems in Los Angeles?

As Popular Mechanics writes, there are lots of design studios in Southern California, so every year, designers from major manufacturers take part in a themed Design Challenge for the Los Angeles Auto Show. 2006 marked the third year for the competition, and that year designers were tasked with making vehicles that reflected “An LA Adventure.” In other words, the designers had to make vehicles that were a nod to life in LA.

Designers from 10 manufacturers participated and created very different concepts. None of the vehicles were expected to go into production, but existed as inspiration for possible production vehicles in some maybe far-off future.

I’ll give you a few examples of what the competition did.

Audi’s designers made the Nero, a concept that tried to be a modern interpretation of a 1930s streamliner. It was supposed to represent the Los Angeles lifestyle with its “pure power, speed and style.”

Honda’s designers went in a more silly direction, choosing to represent different LA lifestyles.

The Running Bus was a transit bus powered by 10 people running. The Jacarzzi (above) was a sports car and a hot tub in one.

Hyundai and Kia had pretty cool ideas. The former’s designers penned a fuel cell drag racer called the Greenspeed Gator. The latter made the Sidewinder, a drift car powered by a compressed natural gas turbine.

Even Smart made an appearance at the 2006 LA Auto Show as it was actively trying to get into the U.S. market. Its designers made an awesome beach cruiser for lifeguards.

Of course, all of these are sketches and renders rather than real vehicles, but they showed the imaginations of the design teams of major automakers.

Then we get to General Motors. While most of the other designers made something fun or silly, GMC designers Steve Anderson, Senon B. Franco III, Jay Bernard, Phil Tanioka, Sidney Levy, Brian Horton, Alessandro Zezza, Christine Ebner, and Frank Saucedo rendered something to solve real problems.

A New GMC Motorhome

The brief behind the GMC Pad is affordable housing in Los Angeles:

The PAD, an urban loft with mobility, a concept for living in the ever changing cultural landscape of Southern California, or quite simply, an alternative for those priced out of Southern California’s escalating housing market. It’s a home ownership concept that enables cultural & geographic freedom for the modern city dweller. The PAD represents a reasoned solution to the problems of urban sprawl, development, congestion and it’s [sic] damaging effects on the region’s environment.

If those are not the saddest opening lines to a concept vehicle then I don’t know what is.

So, the idea of the GMC Pad is that instead of paying high rent or buying an absurdly expensive property, you’d just buy a GMC Pad, which would presumably be cheaper despite all of the features the designers said this rig would in theory have in the real world.

The Pad starts with that exterior, which looks like what a GM Futurliner could be like in the year 2053. You control the motorhome from the central bridge, and there are tiny rectangular windows at the ends of the coach. Much bigger windows with switchable tinting are found behind both of the vehicle’s bumpers. Entry and exit to the motorhome happens in the black, presumably glass section there in the middle.

Renders show the Pad to be a three axle, six-wheeled beast with two steering axles. Supposedly, a theoretical real GMC Pad would be powered by a diesel-electric hybrid system, which motivates the coach when you’re driving or powers the home inside when you’re parked. GMC’s designers said they could see a Pad having enough fuel and water stores for weeks if not months of boondocking. Photovoltaic cells would harness the sun’s energy while an electromagnetic suspension would make leveling easy.

The interior is a bit of a horror scene. GMC’s designers gave the RV a combination lounge and kitchen area, plus a sky deck and a personal spa on the other side. They don’t say how big a GMC Pad could be, but I could see it being about as large as an old GMC Motorhome or maybe the Futurliner. Either way, this is a space that, at best, is for no more than two people.

And my, those people are going to be living in what sounds like dystopia with every single wall being a massive display of some kind. The designers say the concept would have DirecTV, OnStar, XM, and Wi-Fi plus a teraflop of memory storage. All of that is so you can immerse yourself in literal walls of entertainment. GMC’s designers also saw you parking your Pad in the lot at your job, so you can live at work. Or, maybe you could score a work from home gig and work from your Pad.

Of course, this is also supposed to be an RV, so GMC envisioned you parking this along the PCH and other famous California spots. Finally, the GMC Pad was also meant to be flexible, so the designers saw a future where maybe GMC Pads could be used for disaster response, construction, media, or for emergency housing.

A Future That Sort Of Happened

Obviously, the GMC Pad never went past the concept stage, nor was it really meant to. However, as I said before, the designers intended the Pad to be something that maybe someone could build someday. Perhaps AC Future’s designers looked at a Pad sometime in the past.

So with that in mind, I’m still not entirely sure about its mission or the mission of the startups trying to make something like this real. If everyone lived in a futuristic motorhome, wouldn’t that just cause other headaches? I mean, imagine trying to park thousands of these things in LA; and those using a motorhome to commute to work aren’t going to help traffic. I also cannot imagine this being actually affordable unless its builder was being particularly charitable.

It seems like this future is already happening, sort of. All around America, you can find people living out of motorhomes because they cannot afford the high costs of housing. But they’re sleeping in old rigs, not fancy new ones with screens covering the walls.

At the very least, it is awesome to see what designers can think up when they’re allowed to do whatever they want. The GMC Pad is equal parts fascinating and horrifying with a dose of cool. If it were ever made, it would certainly be one of the most striking RVs ever put on the road. Maybe you can just leave the screens and stuff behind and make it nice and cheap.

But again, it’s sad it’s even an idea.

(Images: Manufacturers.)