CHICAGO (Reuters) - Aerodynamics will have as great an effect on car design as weight in meeting future fuel efficiency standards, General Motors Corp's vice president of global design said on Wednesday.
"We can certainly work to reduce the overall size of the vehicle, but we are getting to the point in our vehicles where aerodynamics is arguably more important than mass reduction," Ed Welburn told Reuters on the sidelines of the Chicago Auto Show.
That does not mean that every vehicle will look the same, as they did in the 1970s and 1980s when economy cars aimed to consumers looking for better mileage and thrift were met with vehicles reviled for their boxy designs.
That should not happen again, Welburn said. There is still room to design sporty or roomy vehicles without sacrificing fuel efficiency, he said.
"I believe there are solutions to do very spirited sporty cars and a wide variety of cars to meet the needs of our customers," he said.
Welburn said that the economy cars of the 1980s also did not need to look alike, a failing that could be laid in part to the designers not being integrated with product development as they are now.
"I'm not convinced that everyone was doing their job in making the cars look different from each other in the '80s," he said."
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