Chevy Volt designs are by Poland native

Photo by: Katie Libecco

Photo

The 2008 Chevrolet Volt Concept at the Cleveland Auto Show.

You can trace the design of General Motors’ upcoming electric car, the Chevrolet Volt, to a sketch pad once used by a young Poland boy.

Bob Boniface, the son of Dr. Raymond and Jacquelyn Boniface, amused himself as a boy by drawing cars with a wide, aggressive stance.

Now, he’s the GM executive in charge of the exterior and interior designs of the Volt, and it’s clear from the sleek electric car that his taste in designs hasn’t changed.

“I’ve always felt the stance of a car is the most important piece of the car. If it has a bad stance, it can look awkward. All of the cars I’ve designed — even those I sketched as a kid — have an athletic stance,” said Boniface, 42, GM’s director of design, E-flex systems.

Earlier in his career, the 1983 Cardinal Mooney High School graduate was the lead designer for the 1998 Dodge Intrepid and 2002 Jeep Liberty when he worked for Chrysler Corp. At GM, he was thrilled to oversee the design of the new Chevrolet Camaro, which is due out in January. When he was in his teens, he drove a 1975 Camaro.

But nothing he has done will be studied as closely as his work on the Volt. At a time when automakers are pondering how to power the cars of the future, GM believes it has the answer.

“In a lot of ways, we are betting our future on this vehicle,” Boniface said.

Read more in Sunday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com