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With most product planners in Detroit scrambling to get smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles out of the studios and into their pipelines, you wonder which product development discipline can make the biggest impact with impatient consumers clamoring for immediate gratification.

Materials specialists and powertrain engineers must play big roles. And it makes sense that manufacturing types also need to be involved.

But what about designers?

As it turns out, they are a factor in a couple of important areas.

Of course, they can design smaller vehicles. But General Motors global design honcho Ed Welburn told me that aerodynamics is the most important influence a designer can have on fuel economy.

Aha! He's playing the old let's-lower-the-drag-coefficient game.

"It's not an accident that GM's largest and most complete wind tunnel is attached to the Design Building," Welburn said, looking out the window and bragging that it's the best darned wind tunnel in the industry.

As he spoke, I glanced out his office window and got a mental image of designers and sculptors scurrying around between studio, clay ovens and wind tunnel, then back again. Yes, I could see it clearly. They were searching for the perfect curve on a quarter panel the way Fabian, Barbara Eden, Shelley Fabares and Tab Hunter looked for the perfect wave at Waimea Bay in the 1964 movie Ride the Wild Surf.

Welburn brought me back to the mainland by reminding me that even fuel-efficient small cars need to be aesthetically pleasing. Customers are funny that way.

Designers take care of that, too.

Good point.

But GM North America has done few good small cars, he admitted. I felt like the seasoned design chief was setting me up, and he was.

He matter-of-factly followed up: That's why it's great that GM has design centers in Korea and Europe that know how to design attractive small cars.

OK, I get it. You don't want North American design centers doing the new small cars for North America.

Fine. How soon will they get here?

Edward Lapham writes commentaries each week for autonews.com. Read them at autonews.com/edwardlapham.