James C. Shyr (石志傑/杰) is a Chinese-American automotive designer widely known for his design contributions to the first and second generation Buick LaCrosse (2005-2009 and 2010-2016).

From 2018, he has been the Chief Design Officer and founding partner of Human Horizons, where he is responsible for presiding over the design studio and overseeing the product strategies.

In 2001, he became the first expatriate of General Motors (GM) to be dispatched to China from North America. He was responsible for directing the creation of design strategies exclusive to China, and contributing to global design strategies and developing mid- and long-term design concepts and products for the Greater China Region.

Born in Tokyo, Japan, where his father Richard Jung Hsien Shyr was earning his doctoral degree at the University of Tokyo, the young Shyr developed an early interest in automobiles from being driven in family cars and the thriving Japanese automotive environment at the time. Shyr later moved to Taiwan with his family and attended elementary school and junior high school there.

The family moved to the United States in 1977, where Shyr attended San Gorgonio High School in San Bernardino, California. Upon graduation, he enrolled in several colleges in an attempt to get into the automotive industry. In 1987, at the advice of his high school drafting teacher, Mr. Uhl and his friend, Robert Gibson, Shyr enrolled at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, graduating in 1991 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Transportation Design.

Shyr began his career in France with Automobile Citroën (later known as PSA Peugeot Citroën) and moved on to Toyota North America, followed by Shanghai General Motors (SGM) then Nissan in Taiwan.

At General Motors (GM), Shyr was deeply involved in brand character management and product strategies of the company, where he penned such designs as the original first-gen Buick LaCrosse in 2005, Cadillac SLS in 2007 and second-gen Buick LaCrosse in 2010, among various other brands and models within GM. He was instrumental to the design of the two generations of LaCrosse which helped establish Buick’s design language from 2008 and beyond. He would later oversee the key styling element of the signature “double sweep spear” body side that every Buick still follows to date, and laid the foundation for the second-gen GL8, also known as the “executive carrier” in China. He also oversaw the sporty Buick Riviera concept which greatly influenced Buick’s design language.

In 2000, Shyr was elected into the Nissan Design Strategy Board, representing the ASEAN in Nissan Global Design.