Michael Simcoe Named Ed Welburn’s Successor As GM Design Chief
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Earlier today, current General Motors Design Chief, Ed Welburn, announced he would retire from his position effective July 1. In the official statement, GM also named the man who will follow Welburn’s tenure.
33-year veteran of GM Design, and vice president of international design Michael Simcoe will take Welburn’s place, and will begin to transition into his new role May 1, 2016.
Mark Reuss, executive vice president, Global Product Development and Global Purchasing and Supply Chain, announced Simcoe’s promotion and commended Welburn.
“Given his deep global experience and passion for breakthrough design, Michael is the right person to lead GM Global Design,” said Reuss. “He is known for his ability to take diverse ideas and mold them into great products that surprise and delight our customers.”
Simcoe began his career at General Motors in 1983 as a designer at Holden, and has become known as Holden’s design champion. In 1995, he became director of Design for GM Asia Pacific and in 2003, was named executive director of Asia Pacific Design and led the development of the new GM Korea design operations under Welburn’s leadership.
In 2004, he was named North American Exterior Design Director, and had a heavy hand in shaping the design of American products such as the GMC Terrain, Buick LaCrosse, Chevrolet Camaro and Equinox and Cadillac CTS. His most recent success was leading GM Design Australia in producing the exquisite Buick Avenir concept.
With a wealth of design knowledge and background, Simcoe has big shoes to fill as Welburn leaves his post. But, with striking design like the Avenir under his belt, Simcoe seems to have a bright future as the man at GM Design.
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It appears his portfolio is well stocked.
He has a tough act to follow not only as a designer he is also replacing a very good man.
Best of luck Michael.
Not to mention he led the design team at Holden for the Commodore VE, and the Pontiac G8.
Wouldn’t have been my first choice but a pretty good one all the same. Ed Welburn has had to work through some tough times at GM and I’m sure there were many things he wanted to do but couldn’t which means his legacy in design is not as great as it could have been. Best wishes to Michael in his new post and to Ed in his retirement.
I was rooting for Mark Adams. Then again, Michael has styled some noteworthy vehicles.
I place heavy emphasis on visibility out of a vehicle and I hope Simcoe recognizes this need.
While high waistlines might appeal to SUV, buyers, cars that look like the wannaby SUVs have no appeal. Please bring back cars with high visibility, low waistlines and sleek well balanced lines.
Unfortunately I have not found these traits lately in GM cars and have not bought any even though I am an avid GM fan.
Mr Simcoe appears to be a solid GM man given he has been with the company for 33 years and it’ll be interesting to see what direction under Simcoe’s leadership the design of cars will take and we probably won’t need to wait very long given how Cadillac President Johan de Nysschen announced Cadillac will be introducing 11 new cars over the next 5 years.
Good luck Mike. It’s getting so tough with all of the great designs coming form the rest of the world. I believe you can do it!