General Motors Vice President of Global Design, Ed Welburn, left a lasting mark on GM design. While he states he doesn’t possess a trademark element, his goal was to create lasting designs with an emphasis on aging gracefully.
“It’s not about my look for the vehicle. It’s all about developing clean designs that age gracefully,” he explained to The Boston.
“Designs that are radical and trendy can quickly look dated,” he explains. “If you have a great relationship with engineering, you can develop good proportions. Then styling the vehicle becomes a lot easier.”
We can buy into that, knowing he’s had his hands on hundreds of vehicles across GM operations globally. Ahead of his planned retirement this summer, the New England Motor Press Association has honored Welburn with the “Designer of the Year.”
But, as stated, NEMPA chose Welburn to not only honor his final year in the position, but for a lifetime of achievements over 44 years at General Motors.
Filling Welburn’s shoes will be another GM veteran: Michael Simcoe. The Australian native has held many prominent roles within the automaker’s design division, and will move to become one of the few men to hold the coveted design role over decades.
Comments
Ed Welburn was one of the best Directors of Design GM has ever had. I would rank him in the top three. Above Bill Mitchell and right behind Harley Earl. Hope to see him racing a Chaparral 2E continuation series if he gets the opportunity.
BYE FELICIA
He is one of the few GM employees or executive to act in a GM sponsored movie. Watch him in “Transformers: Age of Extinction” where he does speak one line:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm6369121/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t26