The design teams of Alfa Romeo for the Tonale concept, Peugeot for the 208 and Citroën for its product range design are the winners of the Car Design Award 2019, the new edition of the historical, coveted Oscar of world automotive design instituted in 1984 on the initiative of the magazine Auto & Design and its founder Fulvio Cinti.

The award ceremony took place in Turin on 19 June as part of the Parco Valentino Turin Motor Show, with the participation of Giorgetto Giugiaro, already winner of past editions, as Guest of Honor.

The Car Design Award was assigned for fourteen consecutive editions up to 1997. The award was then revived in 2016 in a completely renewed incarnation, faithful, however, to the spirit that had always characterised it: to reward the authors of projects that have made a significant contribution to the evolution of car design. Today as before, the winners are decided by a jury of experts representing the most prestigious world car magazines, thus ensuring an objective judgment on the world car design scene.

The Car Design Award is divided into three categories: two of them, “Concept Cars” and “Production Cars”, are historical and have been joined by a third, “Brand Design Language”, an award to the design team that has worked best to maintain the consistency and transversality of a brand’s formal language over the entire product range.

The winners of the 2019 edition are:

• for the Concept Car section, the Alfa Romeo design team for its Tonale project;

second place to Peugeot design for the E-Legend, and third place to Citroën for the Ami One.

• the award for best project in the Production Cars section goes to Peugeot design for the 208 (with second place going to the Mazda3 and third place to the Automobili Pininfarina Battista project).
• taking away the prize in the Brand Design Language sectionis the Citroën team (followed by the Mercedes-Benz and Mazda design teams, respectively second and third).

“The response we get from the style centres every time we let them know, confidentially, that they have won the Car Design Award, is confirmation of how much it is coveted and is considered the oscar of automotive design worldwide”, said Silvia Baruffaldi, editor of Auto&Design and President of the Car Design Award Jury.

The winners received trophies specially designed and produced by Brembo, a partner of the prize since its revival. “For Brembo, one of the variables with the greatest impact is surely technology and how it has evolved over time, and this has allowed us to remain at the forefront. But over the years we have always been very attentive to styling aspects too, to the extent that our brakes have become a design object”, noted Alberto Ferrari, Brembo Marketing Manager at the award ceremony.

“The Car Design Award has become a traditional date on our calendar and we are delighted to have hosted this event that has resonated worldwide ever since its revival in 2016”, said Andrea Levy, President of the Show’s Organising Committee.

Organised by Auto&Design magazine, the Car Design Award is assigned by an international jury consisting of representatives of some of the most prestigious automotive magazines from around the world: 

Silvia Baruffaldi (Auto&Design, Italy)

Tom Drechsler (AutoBild, Germany)

Todd Lassa (Automobile Magazine, USA)

Stéphane Meunier (L’Automobile Magazine, France)

Luca Ciferri (Automotive News Europe, EU)

Juan Carlos Payo Calderon (Autopista, Spain)

Dhruv Behl (AutoX, India)

Tetsuya Kato (Car Graphic, Japan)

Jun Miao (MJ CarShow, China)

Zeca Chaves (Quatro Rodas, Brazil)

Kibeom Kim (Roadtest, Korea)

Charlie Turner (Top Gear, UK)

CAR DESIGN AWARD 2019, JURY MOTIVATIONS

CONCEPT CARS, ALFA ROMEO TONALE

“Rather than taking design clues from its mid-size Stelvio SUV, Alfa Romeo said the inspiration for the Tonale compact SUV came from the historic Giulia GT coupe. The Tonale offers sporty proportions but avoids the shortcut of a clearly descending roofline typical of many contemporary coupe-SUVs. The headlights reduced to a thin lightbar give a more prominent role to the Italian brand’s iconic Scudetto, in a design that is at once simple but injected with emotion and sportiness”.

PRODUCTION CARS, PEUGEOT 208

“With the 208, Peugeot demonstrated that design could play a crucial role in moving a mainstream small car upscale. While the exterior reinterprets the proportions of the legendary 205 GTI, the rear immediately reconnects with the contemporary 3008 SUV. Also astonishing is the interior, with components carried over from larger models, as well as the first 3D instrument panel in a production car.”.

BRAND DESIGN LANGUAGE, CITROËN DESIGN

“Citroën has evolved the quirky design language born with the C4 Cactus and its Air Bumps into a more palatable design philosophy, created to give the French brand a “cheer & cheerful” family feeling that now comprises the C3 small car, as well as the C3 and C5 Aircross crossovers. Citroën also brilliantly uses two-toned painting to have its range stand out from the crowd of other mainstream brands, going far beyond the simple connotation of the Double Chevron on the front end”.

WINNERS OF THE PAST EDITIONS

Year	Concept Cars	Production Cars	Brand Design Language
2016	Mazda RX-Vision	Aston Martin DB11	Volvo Cars
2017	Jaguar I-Pace	Ford GT	Land Rover
2018	Honda Urban EV	Jaguar E-Pace	Volvo Cars

The design teams of Honda for the Urban EV Concept, Jaguar for the E-Pace and Volvo Cars for its product range design are the winners of the Car Design Award 2018, the new edition of the historical, coveted Oscar of world automotive design instituted in 1984 on the initiative of the magazine Auto & Design and its founder Fulvio Cinti.

The award ceremony took place in Turin on 6 June as part of the Parco Valentino Turin Motor Show.

“The Car Design Award has become a traditional date on our calendar and we are delighted to have hosted this event that has resonated worldwide ever since its revival in 2016”, said Andrea Levy, President of the Show’s Organising Committee.

The Car Design Award was assigned for fourteen consecutive editions up to 1997. The award was then revived in 2016 in a completely renewed incarnation, faithful, however, to the spirit that had always characterised it: to reward the authors of projects that have made a significant contribution to the evolution of car design. Today as before, the winners are decided by a jury of experts representing the most prestigious world car magazines, thus ensuring an objective judgment on the world car design scene.

The Car Design Award is divided into three categories: two of them, “Concept Cars” and “Production Cars”, are historical and have been joined by a third, “Brand Design Language”, an award to the design team that has worked best to maintain the consistency and transversality of a brand’s formal language over the entire product range.

The winners of the 2018 edition are:

• for the Concept Car section, the Honda design team for its Urban EV project;

second place ex-aequo goes to Genesis design for the Essentia and Mazda for the Vision Coupé, and third place to BMW for the M8 Gran Coupé.

• the award for best project in the Production Cars section goes to Jaguar design for the E-Pace (with second place going to Aston Martin for the Vantage and third place to Volvo design for authoring the Polestar 1).
• taking away the prize in the Brand Design Language section is the Volvo Cars team (followed by the Jaguar and Mazda design teams, respectively second and third).

 

The guest of honour at this year’s ceremony was Chris Bangle, a designer who has always been known for his compelling visions that often swim strongly against the stream.  “Awards that acknowledge the truly important contributions of design – and the design team that created it – are to be celebrated.”, he recalled in his speech. “But for a designer the real reward is the honor to have been chosen by that idea to ‘bring it into being’.”  Bangle is also a past winner of the Car Design Award for his work on the Opel Junior concept car, a project that won the award in 1984 when Bangle was a young interior designer at Opel.

“This year’s edition confirms the work done by the Jaguar and Volvo Cars teams, who have already been among the winners in recent editions. For Honda design, on the other hand, the link with the Car Design Award goes back to the historic first edition in 1984, when the trophy for volume production projects was presented in Turin to the authors of the Civic,” said Silvia Baruffaldi, editor of Auto&Design and President of the Car Design Award Jury.

The winners received trophies specially designed and produced by Brembo, a partner of the prize since its revival. “The combination of Brembo and design has lasted for more than 25 years, when we were the first to introduce a coloured brake caliper. Since then, design has become a hallmark feature of our products, continuing even today to be one of the characteristics that differentiates us on the market, where it is recognised as added value”, noted Alberto Ferrari, Brembo Marketing Manager at the award ceremony.

 

CAR DESIGN AWARD 2018,  JURY MOTIVATIONS

CONCEPT CARS, HONDA URBAN EV

“The Honda Urban EV is a wonderfully judged piece of design which brings a much needed sense of personality to the EV space. Its clever blending of both retro and futuristic aesthetics gives it an undeniable desirability that few can compete with”.

PRODUCTION CARS, JAGUAR E-PACE

“The E-Pace borrows the winning styling clues from its larger brother F-Pace, yet without being a baby F-Pace. Jaguar’s smallest SUV has its own, strong character aiming to attract metropolitan young buyers and comes in as pop music in the car world”.

BRAND DESIGN LANGUAGE, VOLVO CARS DESIGN

“From boxy station wagons designed first for passive safety to a full range of cars and SUVs that blend Scandinavian design with complex lighting solutions, as well as state-of-the-art man machine interface, the journey to a new, fresher and more compelling Volvo design language was successfully completed”.

 

2018 CAR DESIGN AWARD – THE JURY

Organised by Auto&Design magazine, the Car Design Award is assigned by an international jury consisting of representatives of some of the most prestigious automotive magazines from around the world:

Silvia Baruffaldi (Auto&Design, Italy)

Tom Drechsler (AutoBild, Germany)

Todd Lassa (Automobile Magazine, USA)

Stéphane Meunier (L’Automobile Magazine, France)

Luca Ciferri (Automotive News Europe, EU)

Juan Carlos Payo Calderon (Autopista, Spain)

Dhruv Behl (AutoX, India)

Tetsuya Kato (Car Graphic, Japan)

Jun Miao (MJ CarShow, China)

Zeca Chaves (Quatro Rodas, Brazil)

Kibeom Kim (Roadtest, Korea)

Charlie Turner (Top Gear, UK)

 

WINNERS OF THE PAST EDITIONS

Concept Cars	Production Cars	Brand Design Language
Mazda RX-Vision	Aston Martin DB11	Volvo Cars
Jaguar I-Pace Concept	Ford GT	Land Rover

 

 

Twelve jury members will decide the winners of the 2018 edition of the Car Design Award for the three categories available, Production cars, Concept cars and best brand design language. The international jury is made up of editors and representatives of celebrated world automotive and design magazines, with three “new entries” from Korea Kibeom Kim, Editor in Chief of Roadtest; from Germany Thomas Drechsler, Editor in Chief of AutoBild and from France Stéphane Meunier, Editor in Chief of L’Automobile Magazine.

Silvia Baruffaldi
Auto&Design
Editor
Italy

Thomas Drechsler
AutoBild
Editor in Chief
Germany

Todd Lassa
Automobile Magazine
Detroit Bureau Chief
USA

Stéphane Meunier
L’Automobile Magazine
Editor in Chief
France

Luca Ciferri
Automotive News Europe
Editor & Associate Publisher
Europe

Juan Carlos Payo Calderon
Autopista
Editor in Chief
Spain

Dhruv Behl
AutoX
Founder & Managing
India

Tetsuya Kato
Car Graphic
Publisher
Japan

Jun Miao
MJ Car Show
Chief Editor
China

Zeca Chaves
Quatro Rodas
Editor in Chief
Brazil

Kibeom Kim
Roadtest
Publisher & Editor in Chief
Korea

Charlie Turner
Top Gear
Editor in Chief
UK

The design teams of Jaguar for the I-Pace Concept, Ford for the GT and Land Rover for its product range design are the winners of the Car Design Award 2017, the new edition of the historical, coveted Oscar of world automotive design instituted in 1984 on the initiative of the magazine Auto & Design and its founder Fulvio Cinti.

The award ceremony took place in Turin on 7 June as part of the Parco Valentino Turin Motor Show.

“We are delighted to host the return of this prize that resonates worldwide but whose roots are here in Turin”, said Andrea Levy, President of the Show’s Organising Committee.

The Car Design Award was assigned for fourteen consecutive editions up to 1997. The award was then revived in 2016 in a completely renewed incarnation, faithful, however, to the spirit that had always characterised it: to reward the authors of projects that have made a significant contribution to the evolution of car design. Today as before, the winners are decided by a jury of experts representing the most prestigious world car magazines, thus ensuring an objective judgment on the world car design scene.

The Car Design Award is divided into three categories: two of them, “Concept Cars” and “Production Cars”, are historical and they are now joined by a third, “Brand Design Language”, an award to the design team that has worked best to maintain the consistency and transversality of a brand’s formal language over the entire product range.

The winners of the 2017 edition are:

for the Concept Car section, the Jaguar design team for its I-Pace project;
second place goes to Cadillac for the Escala, and third place to Renault for the Trezor.

for the Production Cars section, the Ford design team for the GT;
second place goes to Land Rover for the Range Rover Velar and third place ex-aequo to Alpine for the A110 and Kia for the Stinger.

for the Brand Design Language section, the Land Rover team;
followed by the Mercedes-Benz and Citroën design teams in respectively second and third places.

“In bringing back the Car Design Award we wondered if it might not be fair to also reward the design team that more than any other has been able to give substance and consistency to a brand’s styling idiom over a time span longer than just a single model. Land Rover has done an excellent job in this regard”, said Silvia Baruffaldi, editor of Car & Design and President of the Jury of the Car Design Award.

Entirely new with respect to the “historical” editions are also the trophies, designed and made specifically by Brembo, partner of the award since its return. “The relationship between Brembo and design, which has been strong and active since the company’s origins, is evolving constantly. Our relationships with customers today are increasingly proactive and direct and allow us to combine family feeling, creativity and aesthetics with the needs of quality, reliability and absolute performance”, noted Alberto Ferrari, Marketing Manager of Brembo at the awards ceremony.

An exceptional endorsement came from Walter de Silva, designer and past winner who commented on continuity with past editions. “Receiving the award was particularly important for me and the Alfa Romeo Style Centre team”, he recalled in his speech at the awards ceremony this year. “It was a reassurance for our work, at a time when design had not yet achieved the media exposure it knows today”.

Organised by Auto&Design magazine, the Car Design Award is assigned by an international jury consisting of representatives of some of the most prestigious automotive magazines from around the world:

Silvia Baruffaldi (Auto&Design, Italy)

Bernd Wieland (AutoBild/AutoBild Klassik, Germany)

Todd Lassa (Automobile Magazine, USA)

Christophe Bonnaud (Automobiles Classiques, France)

Luca Ciferri (Automotive News Europe)

Juan Carlos Payo Calderon (Autopista, Spain)

Dhruv Behl (AutoX, India)

Tetsuya Kato (Car Graphic, Japan)

Jun Miao (Car and Driver China)

Zeca Chaves (Quatro Rodas, Brazil)

Charlie Turner (Top Gear, UK)

JURY MOTIVATIONS

CONCEPT CARS, JAGUAR I-PACE

“The Jaguar I-Pace is a manifesto of electrification on wheels, epitomising revolution not only in emissions, but also in proportions and an innovative use of the vehicle on the part of passengers. The Jaguar design team has made convincing use of emerging technology applying it to a product that stands out not only for its architecture, but also for its innovative style and the adoption of intelligent packaging”.

PRODUCTION CARS, FORD GT

“The Ford GT delivers a visual impact that few supercars can rival. Designed to optimise aerodynamic efficiency and performance in every parameter, it’s a true realisation of form following function, and rarely has that ethos delivered such a well-resolved aesthetic result. From the dramatic tapered cockpit to the flying buttresses, every angle on the GT captures the imagination and sets your pulse racing a little faster”.

BRAND DESIGN LANGUAGE, LAND ROVER DESIGN

“From the rugged Defender to the luxury Range Rover, Land Rover design has evolved constantly to the point that the range now includes six products – Evoque, Velar, Range Rover classic, Range Rover Sport, Discovery, Discovery Sport – all with very different personalities and characters. At the same time, they are all unmistakably Land Rovers: they are closely linked to the brand’s roots and retain the values of previous generations. In short: constant innovation that respects brand identity”.

WINNERS OF THE PAST EDITION

Concept Cars Mazda RX-Vision

Production Cars Aston Martin DB11

Brand Design Language Volvo Cars

Eleven jury members will decide the winners of the 2017 edition of the Car Design Award for the three categories available, Production cars, Concept cars and best brand design language. The international jury is made up of editors and representatives of celebrated world automotive and design magazines, with a “new entry” from China, Mr. Jun Miao, Associate Publisher & Editor of Car and Driver China.

Silvia Baruffaldi
Auto&Design
Editor
Italy

Bernd Wieland
AutoBild
Editor in Chief
Germany

Todd Lassa
Automobile Magazine
Detroit Bureau Chief
USA

Christophe Bonnaud
Automobiles Classiques
Editor in Chief
France

Luca Ciferri
Automotive News Europe
Editor & Associate Publisher
Europe

Juan Carlos Payo Calderon
Autopista
Editor in Chief
Spain

Dhruv Behl
AutoX
Founder & Managing
India

Tetsuya Kato
Car Graphic
Publisher
Japan

Jun Miao
Car and Driver China
Associates Publisher & Editor

Zeca Chaves
Quatro Rodas
Editor in Chief
Brazil

Charlie Turner
Top Gear
Editor in Chief
UK