The 2010 World Car Design of the Year award is presented by BASF SE who announced their exclusive title sponsorship earlier this year.

“BASF is extremely honored to present the World Car Design of the Year award to General Motors for its magnificent Chevrolet Camaro design,” said Robin Rotenberg, Vice President, Corporate Communications and Chief Communications Officer, BASF Corporation. “Presenting this award to General Motors is extra special for us because the Camaro gets its color and shine from BASF.”

The World Car Design of the Year category, and the corresponding award, is meant to highlight new vehicles with innovation and style that push established boundaries.  Cars eligible for this award are taken from the list of thirty (30) World Car candidates nominated by fifty-nine (59) World Car jurors from twenty-five (25) countries across the globe.

A design panel consisting of five highly respected world design experts was asked to first review each candidate, and then establish a short-list of recommendations for the jurors.  The design experts were:

Masatsugu Arimoto:  chairman of the Japan Auto Colour Award program, juror on Japan’s governmental “Good Design Award” committee, and Car Styling’s “Car Design Awards”; Silvia Baruffaldi: Managing Editor of Auto & Design magazine; Gernot Bracht:  former designer at Renault, now teaches at Pforzheim design school in Germany; Sam Livingstone:  an Associate Editor of Car Design News and since 2001 has lectured at the Royal College of Art where he is now Senior Tutor in Vehicle Design; and Tom Matano: currently the Executive Director, School of Industrial Design, at Academy of Art University, San Francisco.  Previously,, Matano managed the Mazda Chief Designers group that created the entire Mazda car line designs.

The experts observed that, “The new Camaro leans on its heritage but does so in an artful, modern fashion, argue our design experts.  “Although it borrows some of its styling cues from the first generation Camaro, they all contribute to a simple, pure and modern appearance. It is the most dynamic Camaro ever,” says Masatugu Arimoto.  Sam Livingstone appreciates the “innately seductive exterior and interior. It’s well resolved and I’d argue evidence that General Motors strikes a better balance than Ford and Chrysler do in their pony cars.”

The fifty-nine (59) World Car Awards jurors then voted on the expert’s recommendations in February 2010 and their ballots were tabulated by the international accounting firm KPMG.

“In recreating this modern sports car, we have proven that people are just as passionate about Chevy as ever,” said Michael Simcoe, Chevrolet Design Director. “We have been delighted about the strong reaction to the Camaro  — even in markets that are new to Chevy, it has been creating an emotional appeal for the brand.”

The top three contenders for 2010 World Car Design of the Year were, in alphabetical order, the Chevrolet Camaro, the Citroen C3 Picasso, and the Kia Soul.

Previous winners of the World Car Design of the Year award were the Fiat 500 in 2009, the Audi R8 in 2008, the Audi TT in 2007 and the Citroen C4 in 2006.

Prime Research International, a global leader in strategic communication research and consultancy, has joined forces with the World Car Awards to form a unique research partnership that will provide strategic reports in 2010, analyzing global automotive media coverage.

Now in their seventh year, the annual World Car awards have become one of the world’s most prestigious, credible and significant programs of its kind.

The awards were inaugurated in 2003, and officially launched in January 2004, to reflect the reality of the global marketplace, as well as to recognize and reward automotive excellence on an international scale.   The awards are intended to complement, not compete, with existing national and regional Car of the Year programs.

The awards are administered by a non-profit association, under the guidance of a Steering Committee of pre-eminent automotive journalists from Asia, Europe, and North America.  Peter Lyon (Japan) and Matt Davis (Italy / USA) are the co-chairs; John McCormick (USA), Jens Meiners (Germany) and Gerry Malloy (Canada) are the directors.  There is no affiliation with, nor are the awards in any way influenced by any publication, auto show, automaker, or other commercial enterprise.

DesignBoom & Nissan have got together to run a design competition where the winning entry will be the one where a new vision of urban parking is best visualised. They are flexible, taking flatwork, CAD, moving picture and models. Take a look at the spec for yourself..

“Can’t Park? Reduced parking availability and rising parking costs? Browsing aisle after aisle, fighting over the same parking spot? Got a ticket? Little aesthetic attractiveness of urban parking lots? As much as people love to drive, all good things must come to an end: Parking.

“Nissan Motor Company, Ltd. is currently the third largest Japanese car manufacturer. Two years ago Nissan launched Qashqai, a new breed of vehicle for the urban world. It is the first model to be styled by Nissan Design Europe in London and pioneered the crossover category in Europe. Qashqai is now Nissan’s best selling model. You are asked to include the ‘Qashqai’ or part of it (rear-view mirrors, grills, wheels, wheel caps,…) in your artwork. Application registration will be accepted from now until September 27th, 2009.”

This year’s red dot award: design concept 2009, is the third installment of red dot design award. It focuses on new conceptual ideas for product design, which is a great platform for individuals and design teams to showcase their creativity.

What they say:

“An impractical idea, a figment of imagination or a stroke of genius that has the power to improve our world in the future? This is the elusive answer that all designers and businesses seek and rewards await for those enlightened.

“The red dot award: design concept answers these questions by inviting the most talented designers and most progressive companies from all over the world to submit their best design ideas to rigorous adjudication process.”

Previous winners in the mobility category include Alberto Villarreal, Faurecia, Adam Opel Gmbh & GM Europe Design, Pininfarina S.P.A and ROBRADY design.

MX-LIBRIS – Taxi for Latin American Cities

Premium Attitude

ROBRADY design Vectrix Electric Superbike

Pininfarina Sintesi

Red Dot are looking for entries now and entry closes on 1st July 2009. For more information, please visit their site (and tell them we sent you!): www.red-dot.sg

Making More from Less

Theme of the 8th L’argus Design Competition: « Less is more: travelling in the era of simplicity ». To answer this question, students have to propose the simplest solution to the greatest number of needs that mobility involved in modern society. They will have to focus on optimization of the whole chain, from design of the vehicle to its use, integrating the concept of “always less”: less useless materials, less functionalities and equipment, less energy, less wasting of time, less pollution, less environmental impact.

Manufacturing Partner for this year: Citroën

After two profitable partnerships with L’argus Contest, during 4th et 6th editions, Citroën will once again offer an impressive internship within its design department to the winner.

Presented with the fast evolution of society, car manufacturers pay more and more attention to mobility and uses. By renewing its partnership with L’argus Contest, Citroën accompanies and anticipates these evolutions

A real success in France and abroad

307 students were registered last year and, among the prize list, the most prestigious design schools implicated in supporting the candidates: ENSAAMA Olivier de Serres, Créapole, Créasud Bordeaux, IUP d’Évry, Ecole de Design Nantes-Atlantique and Ecole de Condé de Lyon are some of the main contributors. Damien Grossemy, Thibaut Dereymacker and Maxime Dimarcq, students at ISD Valencienne, won the 1st price with their project “link”. Others European schools are increasingly involved: they represent 45% of the inscriptions in 2008 (vs 37% in 2007), particularly from Coventry School of Arts and Design, University of Northumbria and Istituto d’Arte Applicata e Design..

8th L’argus  Design Competition: after impetus, the rebound!

Originally devoted to the specific segment of utility vehicles, L’argus Competition opened up in 2008 to themes related to the social use of transport, and mobility in the wider sense. The 8th edition confirms this trend, with a theme that directly reflects the current state of affairs.

After more than 50 years of uninterrupted growth in terms of performance, weight, power, size, and also price, the growth curve of the car is currently experiencing its first inflections.

This is the opportunity for students to give free rein to their imagination in designing innovative and modest vehicles.

5,000 € prize and an internship at Citroën’s Design centre

The winner will receive a sum of 3,000 €, as well as an internship within the style department of French car manufacturer Citroën. The designer of the project in 2nd place will win 1,500 € and the designer in 3rd place 500 €.

Every project short-listed for the final will be exhibited during the award ceremony on 20 January 2010.

Application

The competition is open to students attending design colleges within the European Union and Switzerland (automotive and industrial design, fine arts, architecture…).

For a project to be eligible, it must include 4 plates:

-          1 context plate with the project explanations and the guided commentary ;
-          1 sketch plate ;
-          2 drawing plates, including:
·         Views from different angles (exterior, interior and focusing on certain functions) ;
·         Captions (chosen materials, labels of the interior lay out, the vehicle architecture, the ergonomic design, the dimensions, the specific functions, etc.).

Information and submission: concoursdesign@argusauto.com

The 7th L’argus de l’automobile design competition awards ceremony was held at the Eiffel Tower on the evening of Wednesday 21 January 2009. Damien Grossemy, Thibaut Dereymacker and Maxime Dimarcq were the winners with their “link” concept for a car pool system based on car-sharing in self-service access. Answering the question « Invent a vehicle that is useful for Society », they won 3 000 euros awarded by L’argus, and the opportunity to do an internship at the Technocentre Renault.

Theme of the 7th competition: Providing usefulness for society?

After 6 years devoted to the specific segment of the Commercial Vehicle, the 7th L’argus de l’automobile Design Competition was extended to the concept of mobility in a broader sense, on the topic: “Invent a vehicle that is useful for Society”.

In global terms, students in design, industrial creation and fine arts throughout the European Union have had the opportunity to reflect upon every aspect of mobility, as regarding to goods, services and people, while emphasizing concepts such as car-sharing, ecomobility or intermodal transport. According to the teachers of design assisting the students in their projects, “with the extension of the topic, even girls, who are habitually reluctant to take part in a car-based competition, have been able to demonstrate their creativity”.

2009, an exceptional vintage

A total of 307 students entered the competition, 173 of them proposed a project in conformity with the entry requirements. The involvement of the schools is an essential factor of success for the event: in France, ENSAAMA Olivier de Serres, Creapole, Creasud Bordeaux, IUP d’Evry, Ecole de Design Nantes-Atlantique and Ecole de Condé of Lyon appear among the principal contributors. Entries from abroad continue to grow, up from 37% in 2007 to 45% in 2008. Two British schools took a close interest in the competition: Coventry School of Arts and Design and University of Northumbria.

A professional springboard courtesy of Renault

Before a jury made up of professional car designers, design experts and national planning specialists (see the list in annex), ten finalists defended their projects merits on the morning of Wednesday 21 January. The three winners of the first prize of the 7th Competition were announced during the evening awards ceremony at the Eiffel Tower and received a cheque for 3 000 euros offered by Alexandrine Breton, President of the Group L’argus. One of them will also have the chance of work experience within the Design department of Renault, partner of the Competition (after Citroën last year). Having taken part in the definition of the theme and involved in the selection of the prize winners, Renault designers applauded the quality of the projects and the inventiveness of the students.