Edward T. Welburn Jr.

Ed Welburn has been drawing cars since the age of 2½. It was during a visit to the Philadelphia Auto Show that an 8-year-old Welburn decided he wanted a career in automotive design, and his mission to become an automotive designer for General Motors took on greater meaning when he wrote his first letter to GM three years later. The company wrote back and recommended the steps he needed to take to achieve his dream. The rest is history.

Welburn studied design, sculpture, and painting at Howard University’s School of Fine Arts. He continued his communication with GM during his years at Howard, which led to an internship at GM Design after his junior year in 1971.

Welburn’s first peek behind the curtain of GM Design was during an internship in 1971. One year later, he became the first African American hired to design GM vehicles. He spent his entire design career at GM, where he worked and on a diverse list of vehicles and in a variety of studios, including a one-year assignment at GM’s Opel Design Studios in Germany. It’s said that Welburn was involved in the design of over 500 different automobiles, including those by Cadillac, Buick, Chevrolet, GMC, Opel/Vauxhall, Holden, Hummer, Saab, Wuling, Baojun, Oldsmobile, Saturn, and Pontiac.

Welburn was named General Motors V.P. of Design in 2003 (he was just the sixth person to lead the department in the company’s history) and was the highest-ranked African American in the auto industry. In 2005, he became the first to lead GM Design globally, overseeing more than 1,400 designers working in 11 design centers in seven countries around the world.

Welburn is known as the designer who “brought beauty back to General Motors,” and as head of GM Design, he oversaw the designs of all GM brands globally, as well as the U.S. presidential limousine, known as “The Beast”, for presidents Obama, Trump and Biden. He also led GM Design through the turbulent years of the financial crisis and GM bankruptcy, and he feels as though his team dug down deep and created some of their best work during that period.

In addition to vehicle design, his team took on many industrial design projects, including graphic design, exhibit displays, dealerships, corporate offices and the interiors of corporate aircraft, as well as the Chevrolet pavilion at Walt Disney World’s EPCOT Center in Florida and the Chevrolet pavilion at Shanghai Disneyland.

Although Welburn’s primary focus was always on the development of future products for General Motors, the history of GM Design was important to him, including leading the update and restoration of 17 historic General Motors concept cars.

Welburn ’s career at GM also led him to the major auto shows in Paris, Geneva, Frankfurt, New York, Shanghai, and Moscow, as well as lesser-known auto shows in Argentina, Brazil, Thailand, India, and Columbia. Along the way, he always took time to meet with design students.

On Welburn’s last day as vice president of Global Design, he closed out his career at GM and 13 years leading that organization by approving the design of the C8 Corvette in a final visit to the Corvette Studio. Since its introduction, the C8 Corvette has become one of the most significant and successful sports cars in the world and is an appropriate keystone of Welburn’s illustrious 44 years at General Motors.

In 2016, General Motors dedicated its Center for African American Art at the Detroit Institute of Arts in Welburn’s honor. The Detroit Free Press also honored him with its first ever Difference Makers Lifetime Achievement Award, and most recently, Welburn’s body of work was turned over to the Smithsonian Institution, making him the first automobile designer to earn that distinction.

In 2017, Welburn was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts by the College For Creative Studies, a leading design school located in Detroit, and he was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame.

In 2018, he received the EyesOn Design Lifetime Design Achievement Award, and in 2021, a Lifetime Achievement Award from Robb Report.

Most recently, Welburn was inducted into the Corvette Hall of Fame in September of 2022 by the National Corvette Museum.

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. Welburn notes his relationship with director Michael Bay, Paramount Pictures, and the Transformers movies, featuring the Bumblebee Camaro, as having been the most thrilling. His work on this film franchise led to a speaking role in Transformers 4: Age of Extinction, in which the audience saw a very different Ed Welburn - one in a fit of anger!

In 2019, Welburn founded Welburn Media Productions, for which he is CEO and a producer on a major movie project under development.

Welburn has also lent his talents and expert knowledge of automobiles to several automotive TV programs, including AmeriCarna, Jay Leno’s Garage, and the automotive reality series Motor City Masters.

Welburn recognizes a connection between fashion and automobile design. This kinship brought Welburn 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 along with Hollywood and music industry celebrities wearing the latest fashions.

Welburn also found his way onto the runway when he was named to HOUR Detroit Magazine’s Best Dressed list in 2014.

Ed Welburn’s interest in auto racing has taken him to major auto races around the world. While he has never driven a race car in competition, he has driven some of the great historic race cars of our time, including the Porsche 917 and the Chaparral 2E and 2H.

He has also driven laps at Indianapolis, LeMans, Suzuka, Laguna Seca, Mid-Ohio, Paul Rickard, and “The Temple of Speed” Monza, as well as many hours at GM test tracks around the world.

The next generation of artists are very important to Welburn, and he serves on the board of directors for the College for Creative Studies, America On Wheels, and Tony Bennett’s foundation, Exploring The Arts, which supports public schools of the arts in New York City and Los Angeles.

Welburn also continues his role as a judge of classic cars at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance, Radnor Hunt Concours d'Elegance, Audrain Newport Concours & Motor Week, Greenwich Concours d'Elegance, Suzuka, and The Peninsula Classic.

Welburn comes from a close-knit family with roots in suburban Philadelphia. He has two adult children, two grandchildren, and he was fortunate to have his father live with him until his passing at the age of 101.

Welburn retired from General Motors on June 30, 2016 after 44 years. His career was punctuated by a final farewell tour of his studios around the world, a drive through Italy, France, and England in his personal ZO6 Corvette, a final review of the then-upcoming C8 Corvette, and a fabulous retirement celebration.

Welburn is reluctant to call this next chapter “retirement” because he continues to be very active. In addition to his passion for creating large abstract paintings, Ed sketches more than at any other time in the past 30 years, primarily following his interest in fashion by designing sneakers and women’s shoes.