AutoWeek's fast five.(Interview)

AutoWeek's Fast Five: Ed Welburn As design director for General Motors North America, Ed Welburn oversees hundreds of designers shaping the future of vehicles from the world's largest car company. Welburn fielded questions during his appearance at the 11th Annual AutoWeek Design Forum sponsored by Johnson Controls during the Detroit auto show in January:

AW: Bill Mitchell, your old friend, once said, "It's really hard to tailor a dwarf.'' How hard is it to design great small cars?

WELBURN: It's very difficult if you don't have the fundamentals right up front. You've got to get the proportions right. You've got to get the architecture sorted out. And the best cars are the ones where the designers and the engineers are working together right up front and you have a very clear vision and get the vision in place and sort out all the architecture and get all the proportions right and then you can do a great small car.

AW: Do you still get to design now?

WELBURN: I'm not in the studio sketching. I must admit there are times when I'm alone ...