The Hindu Business Line : He is in awe of the autorickshaw

Bangalore, Dec. 1 We may not have any other option but to put up with it; but for Mr Edward T. Welburn, Jr, chief designer of the world’s leading car company, General Motors, the autorickshaw signifies simplicity in design and creativity.

He is so fascinated with the autorickshaw that a model of the vehicle sits on his table at his office along with a model of the Cadillac.

“For me it (the autorickshaw) signifies simplicity, creativity in design and is extremely functional,” says Mr Welburn. “It is easy to enter as well as exit and is very affordable. It is something which every vehicle should be,” he points out.

Mr Welburn became General Motors’ chief designer in 2003 and during his early days with the company, when he was asked to design a race car to take on a just released Mercedes model, he is learnt to have stunned his boss by drawing the sketch of the car on a napkin. The car later went into production and was known as Oldsmobile Aerotech.

‘Curious’

Like the rest of the world, even Mr Welburn is curious to know how the Rs 1 lakh Tata car will look. “We are eagerly looking forward to see the car. We want to know how functional the car would be and how safe,” he says.

For Mr Welburn, cars should be an extension of a person’s personality even if the car is low priced. “There are people who spend all their savings to buy a car which may be low priced but they still want it to be well designed and look good,” points out Mr Welburn, who was part of the team which designed hot sellers like the Cadillac Escalade, HummarH2 and Chevrolet Avalanche.

Good looking

He believes that the BMW mini and the Lamborghini as the cars which are the best looking so far. “They are so good looking and are well proportioned,” he says.

For the chief designer of the world’s largest car maker, world cars don’t mean much. “Such cars are very difficult to make. Hence, one can have the same platform but should be styled keeping in mind regional preferences.”

He believes that Europeans make very good mid-sized cars while the Americans are good at making full sized trucks. “But Americans can’t make good mid-sized cars while the Europeans can’t make good full sized trucks,” he says.

But ask him his views on cars in India, he becomes a bit defensive. “One should not pass comments on other cars. But certainly, there are cars which can always be designed better.”