The Designers, Pt.12 – Ed Welburn, General Motors

Car Design News launched its first-ever Car Design Review yearbook at the Geneva Motor Show, featuring the award-winning Production Car and Concept Car Designs of 2013. If you're interested in buying a copy of the 160-page yearbook this interview appears in, alongside trend reports, bespoke car design infographics and a special feature on Marcello Gandini, our inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award winner, Car Design Review can be purchased here. Name Ed WelburnRole General Motors VP global designAge, nationality 63, USLocation Michigan, USAEducation Howard University "From a car-design-industry perspective, 2013 was good but not great.

Mini hits three million milestone

THE MUCH-LOVED new Mini has reached two major milestones this week. Since BMW took over the brand in 2001, three million Minis have now been produced at the plant in Oxford and the company has also reached the two million mark in Minis for export. The three millionth Mini is a five-door Hatch Cooper S and has a special exterior design to celebrate its heritage and British roots.

New venom for Viper

It appeared onstage for a few fleeting moments, more phantom than future sheetmetal. But like a ghost that won't go away or a car company that refuses to die, a reborn Viper has been penciled in for Dodge for 2012. A concept version of the next American supercar was shown in September in Orlando, Fla., by Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne to a convention center filled with thousands of people—most of them notoriously talkative car dealers.