Artist of the day: Artist of the Day, November 30, 2023: Edward T. Welburn, an American automobile designer (#1971)

Edward T. Welburn (1950) is an automobile designer and former General Motors' Vice President of Global Design, a role in which he served from 2003 to 2016 and the same position that Harley Earl and Bill Mitchell once held. To date, Welburn still holds the distinction of having been the highest-ranking Black-American in the global automotive industry. He has overseen the development of recent GM products, such as the Chevrolet Corvette, Cadillac Escalade and Chevrolet Camaro. Welburn has overseen groundbreaking concepts such as:the Oldsmobile Aerotech, Cadillac Ciel, and Buick Avista.

Welburn was also the lead GM designer on the Chaparral 2X Vision GT, a concept car designed for the video game Gran Turismo 6. The car features 4-wheel steer and active aerodynamics, claimed to be similar to a wingsuit, and was made available in December 2014.

Welburn studied design, sculpture, and painting at Howard University’s School of Fine Arts in Washington, D.C. He communicated with General Motors during his years at Howard, which led to an internship at GM Design after his junior year in 1971. He earned his bachelor's degree from Howard in 1972 and was invited to return to his alma mater on May 7, 2016 to give a commencement speech to graduates of the College of Fine Arts.

Welburn's first peek behind the curtain of General Motors Design was during his college internship in 1971. One year later, he became the first Black American hired to design GM vehicles. He spent his entire design career at GM, where he worked in a variety of studios on a diverse list of vehicles, and he became the highest-ranking Black American in the automotive industry as the first-ever Vice President, GM Global Design.

His designs have set records for speed on racetracks and sales in the marketplace. Among many other notable vehicles, he designed multiple pace cars for the Indianapolis 500, and led the design of the presidential limo, commonly known as 'The Beast', for both Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump.

As the leader of GM Global Design, Welburn traveled the world attending auto shows and visiting his eleven design studios in seven countries, averaging 140,000 air miles each year.

Throughout his career, Welburn recognized a connection between fashion and automobile design. This kinship brought him to spearhead the creation of three automotive fashion shows; two in Detroit, and a third in Dubai. In these shows, GM's latest concept cars rolled down the runway alongside Hollywood and music industry celebrities wearing the latest fashions.

On April 7, 2016, he announced his retirement from General Motors after 44 years, effective July 1, 2016. He was succeeded by Michael Simcoe from GM Australia Design.

After announcing his retirement, he launched The Welburn Group, a design consultancy.

Welburn continues to advise GM Design on the development of their new design facility in Warren, MI.

Welburn has enjoyed a long relationship with the film industry, with the goal being to ensure GM products are placed in key roles in feature films. He notes his relationship with director Michael Bay, Paramount Pictures, and The Transformers movies featuring the Bumblebee Camaro as having been the most satisfying. His work on this modern-day film franchise led to a speaking role in Transformers: Age of Extinction.

He has also appeared on several automotive TV programs, including AmeriCarna, Jay Leno's Garage, and the automotive reality series Motor City Masters, where his weekly role was that of the authority on design and brands.

In 2019, Ed founded Welburn Media Productions is currently serving as the executive producer of a major motion picture currently under development.

Welburn serves an active role as a judge of classic cars at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance, Hilton Head Island Motoring Festival & Concours d’Elegance, and The Peninsula Classic.

He also serves on the Board of Directors for the College for Creative Studies, America On Wheels, LeMay - America's Car Museum, and Tony Bennett’s Exploring the Arts.

In 2016, Welburn designed the new trophy for the North American Car of the Year award, which is on permanent display in the atrium of TCF Center in Detroit.

When Ed Welburn retires from his post as General Motors' global design chief this July, he'll be leaving behind a 44-year legacy that cuts right through the most turbulent era in GM's long history. There was the culling of the Pontiac, Oldsmobile, and Saturn brands; bankruptcy and a federal bailout; the 1973 energy crisis that flipped the American auto industry upside down and heralded the rise of fierce Japanese competition.

Basically, Welburn had an interesting career (to put it mildly). But his successor — 33-year GM vet Michael Simcoe — is likely in for an even more interesting run. Automakers of all sizes have started tripping over themselves in a bid to reinvent their businesses as quickly as possible, preparing for a world where we live in carless megacities interconnected by vehicles that have no drivers. Gasoline has started giving way to battery packs. Silicon Valley versus Detroit has overshadowed GM versus Ford. The challenges are very different — and arguably, more hostile to legacy automakers like GM — than the ones Welburn dealt with at the drafting table inside Buick's design studio circa 1973.

"Everyone's talking about autonomous vehicles, and it's still a few years away. There's a lot of work to do between now and then," he says. "It depends on what level of autonomous technology the vehicle has, but the driver of the car will bring about a very different way of thinking about an automobile. That change will then have an influence on other vehicles that may not be autonomous at all."

But even though he asserts that working well with engineering is critical, Welburn doesn't believe that GM's technology (or any automaker's technology) is the great differentiator — even in the age of autonomy and the connected car. "At the end of the day, no company is going to have a huge technology advantage over everyone else for long. They will for a while, but not for long. Design will still be the great differentiator in the marketplace," he says. (I'd be willing to bet there are a few technologists inside GM who don't see eye-to-eye with him on that.)

© 2023. All content on this blog is protected by international copyright laws All images are copyrighted © by Edward T. Welburn, The Welburn Group or assignee. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, the use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained. All images used for illustrative purposes only.