The Designers Pt4: Ed Welburn, General Motors

“Stop me in the hall with an idea. GM understands the value of design and is very open…”

Designers in some companies have no exposure to the leaders of the company and it can be extremely frustrating. GM is an environment in which designers can feel free to come forward with ideas and their work is really appreciated. The last time I talked to you [2013] we were doing more than we’d done at any other time in GM’s history. We are doing even more now. Every one of our studios is busy plus we are designing an all-new design facility in Michigan.

Then you have the corporation and the issues it deals with and the global issues that are occurring that I can’t help but think about as I travel to the different studios. There are economically turbulent things happening in Brazil and in China, although it’s still a growth economy. We have to remind our people we are not designing for this year, these vehicles go into production in 2019 and need to be fresh in the market until 2024. We have to keep our focus on that.

Chevrolet Camaro, winner of Motor Trend magazine’s Car and Truck of the Year awards

It’s a nice way to come to the end of the year winning Motor Trend magazine’s Car and Truck of the Year awards, for the Chevrolet Camaro and Colorado. That’s really huge. I feel very good about the design work that’s happening at Opel too. It’s been a significant year for them, internally, and because of the introduction of the Astra. Buick’s studio is extremely busy and at Cadillac we’ve had to expand the studio because of all the different vehicles we are working on. There are a lot of changes going on in the industry from a technical perspective, especially affecting interior design. I did a lecture recently on autonomous vehicles but didn’t talk about the standard stuff, commuting to work and those kinds of things. I talked about people with disabilities and the elderly population and how autonomous vehicles will give them an incredible amount of freedom. I’m so excited about that prospect.

“I’ve been in this role for about 12 years but have no interest in going on a cruise some place. There are so many things to continue to work on”

Most of our focus is on internal concepts now. As much as I love them, if one of our incredibly important production cars did not get attention because of a concept car then that’s a problem. When we do make concepts, for the most part they have to be full-size interior and exterior models. That’s the best way of communicating to the leaders of the company or for any market research. We do some animations too and have an in-house team that’s really strong and growing. Almost half of them are in our Warren [Michigan] studio but we have a couple of people in Brazil, Germany, Australia and Korea. If a picture is worth a thousand words, an animation’s worth a thousand pictures. It can really help to bring a new idea to life.

Opel/Vauxhall Astra, European Car of the Year 2016

However, it’s not always easy to tell the scale of a vehicle in the virtual world so no matter how good the tools are, a physical property is still very important. We’re so busy that we’re not doing less physical work, we’re doing more than ever. And we continue to look for great designers to do that work, interior and exterior. Digital sculptors are really hard to find. We really need more of them. I think some of the design schools just haven’t recognised how important a field it is. A couple of them are doing a pretty good job but we are competing with the movie industry. My buddy [blockbuster film director] Michael Bay is one of our chief competitors. He hires 300 digital guys for a movie and that can be appealing to a young person. The human machine interface (HMI) is another huge design area and I can’t say that we are in a leadership position. But we want to be, and are putting a lot of emphasis behind it and staffing in order to do that. It’s evolving quickly.

Saarinen-designed GM Tech Center is a national landmark

The GM Technical Center is a national treasure. But with the kind of technologies we now have in our studios it’s hard to do that work in the existing building. The studios are really crowded and when that building was built in the ’50s the only thing electrical you might have needed in a studio was a desk lamp. The new building will be in harmony with the rest of the campus designed by Saarinen. We’ve dreamed for 20 years about building it.

At GM Design, you have the opportunity to work in such a diverse organisation in so many different ways. Diversity because of the brands and the wide variety of vehicles. We understand the importance of advanced design and continue to grow that activity and team to respond to the very significant changes that are occurring. We have ten design centres round the world, associations with other design organisations, plus we have partnerships in France and Japan (PSA and Isuzu).

I pray I won’t go on forever, but you’ll have to ask my father. He’s 97. And he’s still crazy about cars. I have so much fun doing what I do. I understand there actually is life beyond General Motors but things like this new building are very important to me. Really getting this seamless global design organisation together has been a big deal. The benefit to the company is important and there are so many things to continue to work on. I’ve been in this role for about 12 years but have no interest in going on a cruise some place, or sitting at home watching old movies. I like old movies but I have no interest in putting my feet up.

Ed Welburn

Role General Motors VP global design
Age 65Nationality American
Location Michigan, USA
Education Howard University

Ed’s Cars of 2015

Concept
1 Porsche Mission E
2 Bentley EXP 10 Speed 6
3 Peugeot Fractal

Production
1 Jaguar F-Pace
2 BMW 7 Series
3 Volvo S90

Car Design Review 3

This interview is taken from the Car Design Review 3 yearbook. Published annually by the writers of Car Design News, the book rounds up all of the major car-design trends seen in the past 12 months, counts down the best production and concept car designs of the year and features interviews with 18 of the best car designers working today, plus an in-depth interview with Syd Mead, this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award winner.