Buick revived the Riviera badge for a fancy plug-in hybrid concept car they unveiled at the Shanghai Auto Show as a showcase of the brand’s new design direction. It is not coming from Detroit though, as it is jointly developed by Shanghai GM and Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center (PATAC).

So what good design feature the Riviera concept has that we can expect in the future production Buicks? Well, we can mention the waterfall grille and wing-shaped daytime running lights, and probably the dynamic profile of the car, which Buick says is inspired by the dynamism of water.

The sweeping design of the car features a three-dimensional effect that resembles waves in the ocean “coming to a standstill for a split second.” It is not all show though, as the Riviera’s fastback design has a particularly low drag coefficient, complemented by active grille shutters and diffusers, and active pneumatic wheels. Not all that will be used in the production models, but it’s good that they’ve come up with this stuff!

The interior is very Chinese, featuring sand-blasted aluminum alloy, lava suede and ebony used in a bold style reminiscent of traditional Chinese jade-inlaid wood. The concept also features front floating seats and adaptive seating system, as well as its noise-absorbing head restraint system.

In terms of technology features, the Riviera concept is fitted with BIP (Buick Intelligent Performance), dual-mode W-PHEV (wireless plug-in hybrid electric vehicle) propulsion system, intelligent four-wheel steering, an electromagnetic-controlled suspension and an air spring package, as well as high-speed 4G LTE network. Meanwhile the front collision warning system utilizes 10 cameras and 18 sensors.