To read the full interview: click here.
The 2015 Detroit auto show was dominated by supercars and brashly styled pickup trucks, but General Motors had its own stars: the Buick Avenir concept and the Chevrolet Bolt and Volt.
We sat down with Ed Welburn, General Motors' vice president of global design, to discuss his views on the competition, his favorite styling aspect of the Chevrolet Volt, and what the future holds for some key GM products. Below are our five greatest takeaways from the conversation.
Why is the Avenir a Buick and not a Cadillac?
Why not? It's Buick: a grand brand, a premium brand. The vehicle, in a very big way, reflects the work going on in the Buick studio right now. There are several projects under development now, and this celebrates the form vocabulary, the materials, the finishes, the proportions of a number of cars we're developing right now.
What was your biggest challenge balancing the 2016 Chevrolet Volt's aerodynamic requirements with design?
It's not easy, but as I said earlier today, aerodynamics can be your friend. It does not inhibit great design. At times, it can be challenging, and not easy to deal with some of the requirements—coefficient of drag, reducing the frontal area, in some cases, downforce—but some of the cool creative solutions come out of that effort. After all, it's the one opportunity that a designer has to improve the fuel economy of the vehicle. We're not influencing the powertrain or anything, but aerodynamics is our opportunity. Some very cool things can come out of it. You see some vehicles with a hard vertical edge on the rear bumpers at the corners; that's all for aerodynamics. There's extensive aero work done on Corvettes and Suburbans. Those solutions find their way into everything that we do.
Do you have a favorite design element on the Volt?
I really like the rear. What I really like is the overall design, the overall stance and proportions: the whole gesture that the car has. It has more of a forward thrust in its design, so that's a big deal. I also like the interior. It's really come a long way. It's really grown up, and it's a very attractive design and also much easier to work with, for a customer to use its functions.
We haven't seen CT6, either, but we hear that it will retain a lot of current, rounder Cadillac styling cues. It almost seems like that GM design was sharper five years ago. Would you agree?
The forms are more sophisticated. The first-generation CTS had the sophistication of this "Reserved" card [on the table]. It had hard edges, very hard planes and surfaces. For the second generation, and into the third generation, we retained the creases but put more shape in the surfaces between them. The creases are still there. I wouldn't call it round. In fact, I would say it is not a round car. It is more sophisticated in its form execution, both in section and in plan view, so it has more shape. It's a far more sophisticated shape which I believe a luxury car has got to have.
What do you see as competitors right now, styling-wise?
They all are. I don't take anyone for granted. There are some things that I don't like that sell very well, and I wonder why. I need to understand that better. There are things that are, frankly, ugly, that sell quite well. I need to understand why that is. I don't take anyone for granted. This is a very competitive industry. Most brands are starting to understand how important design is. Their technologies aren't going to be exclusive forever, so design is very important.
Do you like these coupe-like crossovers?
I like the idea of that. Do I like the execution of them all? Some yes, some no. The idea of that type of vehicle is pretty cool. As the whole SUV market just gets larger and larger, it seems to subdivide into so many categories.
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