E-mail a friendEd Welburn
airdate August 24, 2004
Ed Welburn is GM's design chief - only the 6th in company history and the first African American. He began his GM career in '72 as an associate designer in the advanced design studios and has held positions at Oldsmobile, Saturn and Opel. He also served as Corporate Brand Center director. His passion for performance was evident in his design of the Aerotech, which established two world records. A Philadelphia native, Welburn is a graduate of Howard University, where he studied product design and sculpture.
Ed Welburn
Tavis: How are you?
Welburn: Doing great.
Tavis: I'm glad to have you on, and you are doing great, and I want to talk about how it is and why it is after all these years, you are doing so great, but I want to go all the way back to the beginning, because that story, this story, is so fascinating for me. For those who might have just tuned in, I teased this a few seconds ago here. At 11 years old, you write a letter to General Motors telling them that one day you want to work for the company and you want to do design for General Motors. You write them a letter at 11 years old. Pick up the story. What happens when your letter goes to GM?
Welburn: Well, you know, first off, I've been interested in cars all my life, been drawing cars since I was 2 1/2.
Tavis: Mm-hmm.
Welburn: And at age 11, I wrote General Motors because I wanted to be a car designer. I wanted to know what courses I should take in school, what universities, you know, what background did I need to be a car designer, and they sent me great information, and, uh, followed their lead, and here I am.
Tavis: So General Motors actually responded to the letter of an 11-year-old named Ed Welburn?
Welburn: Absolutely, and when I receive letters today from young people, I send the same type of information to them.
Tavis: I suspect you don't have any choice, do you? If they did it for you, you have to respond to those letters, don't you?
Welburn: Absolutely.
Tavis: Yeah. Are you--to that point, are you starting to see in the business more African Americans, for that matter, people of color who are interested in what it is that you do every day?
Welburn: Well, the interest is definitely there, um, in a huge number, um, but there aren't as many African Americans in the universities in the field of study in automobile design as I'd like to see there. Um, so I have actually met with the presidents of virtually every design school in this country to talk about that and see how we can increase those numbers.
Tavis: So what needs to be done? What needs to happen as you see it in short order here, to ensure that there will be more wonderful stories like yours in the months and years to come? Especially given that we live in the most multicultural America ever.
Welburn: Well, um, the interest is definitely there among all ethnic groups. It's just, um... I believe there needs to be more of an outreach program and understanding of how to--how to achieve those goals, how to, um--what is needed to become an automobile designer.
Tavis: Mm-hmm. What does one take in school? I'm a little too old now to go back to school to be an auto designer, uh, but what does one take in school to do what it is that you do?
Welburn: Well, to back up from being a car designer or being hired by General Motors, uh, the field of studies should probably be in industrial design, fine arts. In particular, a school that's got a concentration study in transportation design or car design, and there are several good schools in this country. Now, in order to get into one of those schools, you've got to develop a portfolio while in high school, and, uh, that would mean taking courses in art and in design that would really prepare you and help you prepare a portfolio for entry into a design school.
Tavis: Let me back this conversation up. We'll put it in reverse--no pun intended--for just a second here and ask you...so GM responds to your letter at 11 years old, tells you what to do. You did pretty much everything that GM recommended. Where did you go to school? And tell me how after school, you found your way employed by General Motors.
Welburn: I, uh...through high school, I was developing my portfolio. I was taking as many art courses as I could in school--as well as it was just something I wanted to do on my own anyway. I also hit quite a bit of math in high school, as well. I applied to and was accepted to Howard University, which has a school of fine arts within the university, and a major in design. I, uh, studied at Howard University from '68 to '72. It was really a golden period, a golden period which seems to be repeating itself at the university today. At that time in the school of fine arts, which was art, music, and drama, there were people like Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway were there, uh, Debbie Allen, Phylicia Rashad. We were all there at the same time, and it was a real golden period, but I was in the school in the art department and focusing on sculpture, because I think cars are very sculptural-shaped products, and I took quite a bit of design courses.
Tavis: So you leave Howard University, The Bison, in 1972, and your dream from 2 1/2 years of age, now as a college graduate of Howard, using that paper, you head back to Detroit to accept a position to work for General Motors. I got a picture here of you in 1972 I'm gonna ask my director Jonathan to put up. It's a nice picture. Now, there are 2 things about this that get my attention. Leave that up, Jonathan. Leave it up. There are 2 things about this picture that I find fascinating. One is I can see by what you have on tonight and by this photo, you love haberdashery. So you had a good taste in clothes then. You still got good taste in clothes as we speak now, but I'm also noticing that you're not rocking that Afro these days like you did back in '72.
Welburn: Well, some things...It may be a bit more subtle than then. Ha ha ha!
Tavis: Ha ha ha! That's a nice way to put it. "A bit more subtle."
Welburn: And I'll tell you, in that photograph--I don't know if it's the one that I'm aware of. I'm shaking hands with the gentleman?
Tavis: With your boss.
Welburn: Yeah, that was with Bill Mitchell, vice president of design. I sit at his desk today. A copy of that photograph sits on that desk and is kind of a reminder of, uh, my beginnings here at General Motors.
Tavis: Let me ask you what, then, allows you to stand out from the crowd in terms of the way you design? And it's a crazy question. I'm trying to make some sense out of it. What do you see? What does your creativity come from? When you sit at a canvas, what makes you stand out? And clearly you do, because as I mentioned earlier, so many vehicles over the years you've done, but now the Hummer H2 and the Escalade, which is so popular across the country. What comes to you that doesn't come to other folk when you sit before this canvas to start drawing something?
Welburn: Well, you know, we've got an incredibly talented team of designers, I mean, from all kinds of backgrounds. I mean, unbelievably talented. For me, though, I just find inspiration in everything, in the clothes that people wear. I find a lot of inspiration in the fashion industry, other areas of product design. I'm inspired by concept vehicles that we develop, that others develop. I just find inspiration all around me. In furniture design as well. I believe that the absolute best designs are the designs in which designers and engineers really worked together in collaboration to develop a very strong design. It's not that engineering has a lead or design has a lead. We work together. And I think that has really helped me as a designer really be successful with the vehicles I design.
Tavis: When you put out a product line of a certain vehicle and it hits, I am certain that you guys have a bunch of meetings inside the company to figure out what it was about this design that worked. What was it about this product that the American car-buying public seemed to like? Let me throw a couple vehicles at you and get you to tell me, from the inside, why you all think this product caught on. So what is it about the Hummer that people seem to like?
Welburn: Well, the Hummer, I mean, the whole development of that has been really brilliant. H1 was really the military vehicle, the Humvee. And the Humvee really captured the imagination, I think, of a lot of young people. Back with Desert Storm and all that, they really saw this as a powerful vehicle. The association with Arnold Schwarzenegger has also added to that. H2, the production vehicle, has really built on that and has really brought it to the public in the somewhat more affordable--still an expensive vehicle, but more affordable than the original vehicle. And people have found that it is not only this big, tough, strong vehicle, but it's a pleasure to drive, as well.
Tavis: The Cadillac Escalade. That vehicle is a hit with all kinds of Americans, but it is especially a hit, as you well know, with urban brothers who--at least, the brothers who can afford, at least, to buy the Escalade. But that's an awfully popular vehicle. What is it about the Escalade that people seem to like when there are so many S.U.V. choices these days?
Welburn: Well, I think our community really appreciates a bold design statement, and Escalade is really, in many ways, a fashion statement. It is a very bold front-end design. You know, that emblem on the rear is very important to its design.
Tavis: And very big, I might add.
Welburn: It's very big, and if we made it a millimeter smaller, they would not be happy. Our customers would not be happy. We know. We've tested it. In fact, you know, I'm very much involved in the development of the next-generation Escalade, and we did a special focus group with celebrities, with people in the entertainment business, movie, television, hip-hop artists, athletes, to get their impressions. What is it about an Escalade they're really liking? They are very passionate and energetic about the design, and it's that front end. That front end is everything.
Tavis: Well, everybody likes the Escalade, as I mentioned a moment ago, but for years, anybody in the know knows that black folk, in particular, have a love relationship with Cadillac that cannot be explained. What is it about Cadillac, for all these many years, that certainly African Americans love?
Welburn: Well, it's true, and it dates back to the 1950s, I'd say. And it's because Cadillacs have always been a very bold design, a very elegant design. There's an elegance about it that's very important, and there's just a boldness in the design, and it has a flair. It has an absolute flair that is exciting. And there's a period there, I would say, in the 1980s, where it seemed to lose quite a bit of that. And now, with this new generation of Cadillacs, we've hit a real focused direction for it. It began with the Escalade and the CTS and now the new STS. They all have that flair. They have that magic. They have that crisp edge to them that's important.
Tavis: My time is running out, and I don't have the time to explain how this show actually works, what makes it so cool and so hip, but from anybody's who's ever watched MTV, they have a very popular show called "Pimp My Ride."
Welburn: Right.
Tavis: "Pimp My Ride" on MTV.
Welburn: Xzibit's on there, yeah.
Tavis: Exactly, Xzibit. Oh, you know this?
Welburn: Oh, I've met him.
Tavis: I know you know this, because I cracked up when I read that they've actually come to you to consult with you about story ideas for this TV show "Pimp My Ride."
Welburn: Matter of fact, I need to talk with him. I've got another idea for--ha ha ha! We've got a vehicle for 2006 I'd like to put in his hands.
Tavis: Yeah. Well, I thought that that was absolutely hilarious. Let me close by asking you about the cars of tomorrow, and I ask that against this backdrop, at least this particular backdrop, and that is there's a great conversation in this country, as you know, about the fact that our vehicles have become too big. We talk about how popular the Escalade is--I don't wanna beat up on gm products, but everybody makes an S.U.V. now. But they're not environment friendly, we are told, by folk who are very active in the environmental movement. Talk to me about the design of the car of tomorrow, whether or not--well, let me just stop there.
Welburn: Well, I think in a short term, it's not the size of the vehicle, it's the efficiency of the vehicle, and if you can develop a vehicle that satisfies the needs of your customers, the interior space, and has got the presence, the look that--'cause you know, I feel as though an automobile is an extension of a person's personality, and if there's a particular look that they're looking for, then we need to respond to that. The thing is if you can do that in a very efficient way, get the aerodynamics right, create an internal combustion engine that may, when it only needs 4 cylinders, run on 4 cylinders or will run on 6 cylinders instead of all 8 at one time. That's short-term, but we really see in the future--and I've been very involved with the development of fuel-cell vehicles. GM has really been developing totally new vehicle types based on the fuel cell that I think people will respond to. That's not near-term, that's in the distant future, but we're gonna get there.
Tavis: All right. Well, I'm not surprised to hear you say you're gonna get there with such confidence, because anybody that writes a letter at 11 years old, who's determined to get there, make that General Motors, and did in fact get there, now runs the whole shop, knows what he's talking about. Ed Welburn, I'm delighted to have you on, delighted to meet you, at least via satellite, proud of your success, and I'm glad to have you on the program.
Welburn: Thank you very much.
Tavis: It's my pleasure. Up next on this program, the very talented actor Mark Ruffalo joins us. Stay with us.
Back to August 24, 2004