Michael Simcoe, the man tapped to succeed Ed Welburn, current Vice President of General Motors Global Design, is no stranger to the United States, but he’s returning to America in a big way.
CarsGuide spoke with the Australian native, and the first non-American to lead GM design, about his new position and his plans. Mostly, Simcoe reflected on his time with Holden, as he is credited with bringing the Monaro nameplate back during the 1990s, leading to our reborn Pontiac GTO.
“The whole Coupe and then Monaro concept to a production project was a dream job, once in a lifetime, and all that,” he said. “It is significant, but it would bother me if that is all I seem to have achieved. The Australian design team has done much better work.”
“Maybe, with 33 years in, I outlasted everyone else,” Simcoe said jokingly. He has a rich history with GM design, building up design studios in South Korea and serving six years in the U.S. under the automaker’s design umbrella. He then returned to GM Design Australia while raising his two daughters.
He’s a forward thinking gentleman, and seems genuinely excited about moving design into the future, all while distributing credit accordingly to his team members.
“The next projects are always the best. And it is not me, it is the total team.”
As for his arrival to Detroit, Michigan? Simcoe plans on seeking out a 1963 C2 Corvette split window to add to his current collection of vintage vehicles. There’s also the chore of replacing his beloved Holden Commodore SS-V.
“A 1963 split-window Corvette is what I will be chasing,” he stated as he prepares to embark on a life changing position.
Comments
About time we replaced Ed. Personally would have preferred someone with some none GM background on his resume.
I would prefer and American in this role. Harley Earl is rolling over in his grave I am sure!
You know Harley often stole his ideas from Euro automakers. The reason we know is he stated so himself.
Ed did a hell of a job considering the financial issue he had to face in his era.
With the resources he made use of with the limited money available it is amazing they got what he presided over done.
GM has had the most talented people in the industry but the lack of will from the past management as well as the lack of money forced them into some really poor designs not of the design departments liking.
As we have see as GM is now less debt ridden and farther from the bail out they are now bringing to market more designs that not only look better but are better packaged and much lighter. The results are in the increased profits we see now.
Michael will carry on with the same talented people from Ed and move this vision forward at an even faster pace.
Lutz came in and empowered the staff at GM to do what they could. Even limited by money we still had some really great designs come out.
Michael Simcoe has prodigious talent and will bring enormous energy to future GM designs. As you can see, I am a big fan and his past designs (usually on a limited budget) have been wonderfully executed.
I wish him every success going forward.
Simcoe is good but it should have been Mark Adams. Adams saved Opel with design like Insignia (Car of the year 2008) Astra (Car of the year 2016), Adam, Monza concept, and Cascada–a rag top more attractive than Mustang or comparable Audi.
While not American, Michael Michael Simcoe was Ed Welburn’s right hand man and has been at General Motors for 33 year which means Michael Simcoe knows what direction to take General Motors.
I’m hoping that this finally means an end to Evolutionary design at GM. Such thinking ruined sales for Camaro and, going back, the full sized trucks.