GM Irate at Huffington Post Blog Critical of Design and Old White Guys

DETROIT — Affable Ed Welburn, the gentlemanly global vice president of General Motors Design, who happens to be known for his great suits, rarely takes off the gloves. But he did so on Monday in a rebuttal on the corporate GM FastLane blog of a vicious attack in the Huffington Post that criticized GM design for "so much truly ugly stuff" and designers who are mainly "older white guys wearing suits to the office in Detroit, except for one woman and one black guy."

Welburn is African American.

"Regarding your taking exception to our wearing suits...at Design, I manage a diverse team and I don't care what my people wear," wrote Welburn. "What I do care about are creative results and their style of dress has nothing to do with delivering great design. I want them to be comfortable."

Regarding vehicle design, Welburn said: "I challenge you to visit a GM dealer and sit in the Chevrolet Malibu or Camaro, Cadillac CTS or SRX, or the Buick LaCrosse before you question our commitment to design and quality."

The Huffington Post blog — an open letter to GM CEO Fritz Henderson -- was written by Gerald Sindell, author of The Genius Machine, who mused: "Can an organization that has made so much truly ugly stuff suddenly start making great design?"

"I went to your new Web site, gmreinvention.com, and perused the portraits of the top team, just to get some clues about the design sense there," Sindell wrote. "I see mostly corporate-type guys, in ties and suits, and the one thing that doesn't leap out is, 'Wow — great design sense.' What leaps out is, 'Older white guys wearing suits to the office in Detroit, except for one woman and one black guy.'"

Welburn offered to take Sindell on a "personal tour of GM Design Headquarters." He also added: "For every misstep through the years like the [Pontiac] Aztek, I'll point to a Camaro, a Malibu or CTS."

Inside Line says: When the attacks take a Project Runway-esque turn, it's time to bring out the big guns at GM. — Anita Lienert, Correspondent