GM Design Chief Accuses Huffington Post of Racial Prejudice

As GM stares down the barrel of bankruptcy—oh wait, they’re already bankrupt. My bad. You see, I was reading Ed Welburn’s rant on GM’s FastLane blog. Eddy’s pissed-off at Gerald Sindell’s “ Open Letter to GM CEO Fritz Henderson,” which says GM’s designs reek of “Older white guys wearing suits to the office in Detroit, except for one woman and one black guy.” As the one black guy in question, Welburn’s on the warpath. Hence my confusion. I mean, with GM in C11 and all, you think the head of design would have something better to do than accuse the media of race baiting—even if it is. Which it isn’t. To steal a line from another legendary zombie, can we talk?

Here’s the quote in question, where Sindell accuses GM design team of being a bunch of (mostly) lily-white fuddy-duddies:

I went to your new website, gmreinvention.com, and perused the portraits of the top team, just to get some clues about the design sense there. 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.” And while we’re all looking at this new website together for clues about the new GM, does it worry any of you that the portfolio of the woman, Susan E. Doherty, is described as: “North America VP, Buick-Pontiac-GMC”? Didn’t anyone tell the web designer that Pontiac was buried several weeks ago?

After a bunch of “We at GM are artists” BS, here’s Wellburn’s indignant, poorly punctuated response:

As for quantifying my colleagues as old white men, I can only point you to my opinion , that diversity is not only represented in skin color or gender; it is diversity of thoughts, ideas, experiences and opinions of our people, that matters and makes us strong.

So, is Wellburn accusing Sindell of being a racist for believing that white people are lousy car designers? It may not be PC of me to say so, but that’s very funny. And what of the facts of the matter? Is there more than one woman and one black guy in GM’s design department? Does Doherty know she’s out of a job, or is no one brave enough to tell her?

Wellburn saves the best for last. I mean, his invitation to Sindell is PR 101 stuff. But the kicker kicks ass.

Ultimately, you and your readers will judge for yourselves. To that end, I’d like to invite you to reacquaint yourself with our award-winning cars and trucks. I would be happy to take you, Mr. Sindell, on a personal tour of GM Design Headquarters in Warren, MI. I implore you to see what we’re working on; and then let folks know what you think. In the interim, the GM design staff will do its part to ensure that design stays in the asset column.

In other words, don’t downsize me ‘bro. (I’m just tasing.)