NEW YORK - While newspapers have been filled with headlines about job cuts at General Motors, the automaker's design studio has been adding jobs.
"The corporation believes in what we are doing," Ed Welburn, vice president for global design, said in an interview this month at the New York auto show.
"They realize the importance of design and having choices, design alternatives for the leadership to make those tough decisions. So we are continuing to hire."
GM's studios across the globe have been expanding.
Welburn was unable to say how many jobs were added, but said: "Last year we hired 14 designers alone from (Detroit's) College for Creative Studies. We hired from the Art Center, (in Pasadena, Calif.), from the Royal College of Art in London, and schools in Korea, China and Australia.
"Nobody talks about it. And we're continuing to hire in North America, Brazil, Australia, Germany and Korea."
Welburn said the hiring has strained studio space.
"We have a lot to do, and our studios are bulging at the seams," Welburn said. "We're expanding the studio in Europe. A new wing has been added to our studio in Korea, and in Australia we took over space that was an engineering building."
You may e-mail Rick Kranz at [email protected]
