A GM Concept Car Catches Fire and Damages Its Design Studio in California

Part of the GM Advanced Design California Studio in Pasadena, California, a facility that officially launched with much fanfare last year and was home to the creation of a C9 Corvette Concept, was involved in a fire this week. The blaze apparently destroyed at least one priceless concept car and other design studies GM's design team was working on.

The Pasadena Fire Department was dispatched to the GM Advanced Design California Studio at 5:30 pm on Wednesday, October 22, in Pasadena. Between the initial start and fire containment at 7:22 pm, the call escalated to a four-alarm fire due to the complexity of the layout, smoke conditions, and distance to the seat of the fire, something Pasadena city chief communications officer Lisa Derderian said was a rare occurrence. Compounding issues were the presence of lithium-ion batteries and other concept cars that required hazardous-materials teams to join the firefighting efforts. In the end, only a single concept car was lost and no structural or fire damage occurred where the fire broke out.

Approximately 100 firefighters engaged to fight the blaze, and the fire's cause remains under investigation. Derderian also confirmed a MAYDAY call from a fire captain occurred inside the burning facility. There were several minutes of no communication, but he was rescued and said to not have suffered any injuries. There are also no reports about any GM Advanced Design Studio staff being injured, but those onsite were evacuated.

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For now, the campus is closed until investigators can determine the fire's source. Initial reports from Pasadena Fire said it was within a small footprint of the 150,000-square-foot campus, but water and smoke damage expanded beyond the fire's area. A GM spokesperson said a single concept was lost, but nothing else besides the building was damaged or destroyed. A MotorTrend editor went to the design center the morning after the fire was contained, and no visible fire crews were on site

Once the investigation is complete, overhaul and clean up will take place over the course of several days, depending on how much is damaged or destroyed. “We’ve been boasting about bringing new technology, jobs, and name recognition into our city,” said Derderian during our inquiry into the fire. “We’re hoping they are able to get back in business in a timely manner.”

GM told us: “We’re grateful that all employees and first responders are safe and accounted for. The isolated fire was contained to a single design concept vehicle and did not spread to any other vehicles, design concepts, or the building itself. We thank the responding fire departments for their swift action in extinguishing the fire.” The GM spokesperson also mentioned the company will cooperate fully with authorities in the investigation and is assessing the next steps toward restoring the facility back to working order “as soon as possible.”

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The GM Advanced Design Studio California

The 150,000 square-foot facility located in Pasadena replaced the 50,000 square-foot GM Design Studio in North Hollywood. The Pasadena studio was a $71-million investment to produce new and exciting vehicles, opened its doors mid-2024, and recently created the California Corvette Concept in 2025. There is no word on which concepts and design studies were lost in the fire, but we will update this story when GM confirms what’s gone and what’s survived.

Why Was Haz Mat Required?

Lithium batteries present issues for firefighters as they release toxic fumes, and part of why haz mat was required to be on the scene. Lithium battery cells can enter thermal runaway, where cells begin to overheat and can become another fire source. This situation can be caused when batteries overheat or burst until they eventually go up in flames. This internal shorting due to over expansion can occur long after a fire is done and can cause another blaze, making disposing of lithium batteries after a fire a hazardous affair. The only solution is to keep a battery pack submerged in tanks of water or some other fire retardant until the shorted cells exhaust their energy.

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These batteries and electric motors are often used to allow concept cars to move under their own power as electric vehicles, but there are concepts and prototypes that also use gasoline and internal combustion engines that propel them around. Gasoline, while a far more well-known fire hazard, can also make firefighting difficult. Gasoline can also poison the ground if spilled, and that would be an additional reason haz-mat teams were dispatched to the GM Advanced Design Studio.

This story has been updated as new information has become available.