Milan Design Week: BMW, Volvo and Kia top the Car Design Awards

Every year Car Design Awardone of the most important awards in the world of automotive design, established in 1984 by Fulvio Cinti, founder of Auto&Design magazine. This year, on the occasion of Design Week Milanese, the award ceremony was held in the context ofADI Design Museum of the city of Milanese. A jury An international team of experts has selected innovative and important design projects three groups: “Concept Cars†, “Production Cars†and “Brand Design Language. The latter, created in 2016, has been assigned to a creative team that has worked more on the consistency and expansion of the official brand language across the entire product line. Below are the final cars in different categories:

Concept Cars: Alpine A290_β, Audi Activesphere, BMW Vision Neue Klasse, Lancia Pu+Ra HPE, Cupra DarkRebel, Kia EV3, Lamborghini Lanzador, Mazda Iconic SP, Mercedes-Benz Vision One-Eleven, Toyota FT-Se
Production Vehicles: Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale, Aston Martin Valor, Cupra Tavascan, Dacia Duster, Geely Galaxy E8, Kia EV9, Lamborghini Revuelto, Tesla Cybertruck, Toyota Land Cruiser, Volvo EX30
The Language of Brand Design: BMW, Cupra, Kia, Lotus, Toyota

The final votes gave him victory Concept Cars a BMW for the project A New Class Vision. In second place Mazda for Iconic SP and for the third Mercedes-Benz for The Eleventh Vision. The reasons for the award read: “It is not easy to reinvent the design language of a brand, however the BMW Vision Neue Klasse does so in a very modern way, while maintaining the style elements that embody the brand’s heritage. electricity, respect for the past and a vision for the future”.

In part Production Vehicles he won Volvo EX30, with the following motivation: “For Volvo, small is great. The exterior of the EX30 is perfectly executed and the interior is very spacious. A small SUV with a strong sense of luxury, characterized by the common design language of Volvo: simple, ecological, practical, but also able to bring a sense of renewal with its characteristic Scandinavian design, although new”. In the second place Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale and on the third step of the podium Lamborghini Revuelto.

Come on was awarded for The Language of Brand Design with this inspiration: “With the philosophy of Unity of Opposites, Kia design has adopted a non-conformist approach with the aim of bringing about change, without fear of taking risks. Unexpected at first glance, Kia’s new models break the mold of unified aesthetic criteria to introduce a modern and completely new formal language. The constant innovation of creating a new identity.

Before the awards ceremony, a meeting was held to talk entitled “Living in a car†wheredesign evolution of the car as a result of a new lifestyle, sustainability and technology. Silvia BaruffaldiEditor of Auto&Design and President of the Prize Jury, presided over the proceedings and, first of all, remembered the names of the men who left us this year, who were the main characters of the event: the great designer. Marcello Gandini, Paolo PininfarinaPresident of the historic Turin company that made the history of Italian cars and Giuliano Molinari, among other things the creators of Auto&Design with Fulvio Cinti. For panel discussion Carlo Ammirati of Alcantara, Rossella Guasco, Vice President Color & Material of Stellantis Europe, Stefano Piontini, designer and partner of Vidafieri Saverino Partners and Francesca Sangalli, Head of Colour&Trim and Concept&Strategy for Seat and Cupra participated.

A lot of confusion has arisen between the world of cars and that of living, for Guasco, which covers many of the Group’s brands, “A car is a journey inhabited by people and each brand has different values ​​to express. For example, the 500 represents Made in Italy and is the collective profile of our country. Lancia, on the other hand, is the living room of modern while Alfa embodies the emotional connection and playfulness while driving”. Mission for is different Sangalli since Cupra cars must represent “People who love to drive and therefore cars are a special place for drivers. They are not living rooms and we do not take inspiration from homes. The environment must provide an important visual stimulus through the power of colors and materials”. And materials, over the years, have increasingly become the protagonists of design and also represent technology and sustainability. “Earlier, Color & Trim covered the surfaces, now the material is the form itself”, recalled Sangalli. Like Alcantara, an event partner, which is a multifaceted material in an ongoing relationship with the world of design, which succeeds with the customization it can offer. The appearance of which Andrea Boragno, President and CEO of Alcantara, said during the event: “Personalization is a big trend that has been going on for a long time and is now increasingly visible in the market. There are three main aspects to this personalization: performance, emotional aesthetic aspects and ultimately experience. Quality alone is not enough, you need an emotional interaction with users. You need a sense of beauty, a sense of style and design. Alcantara improves this experience also from all the pollution of other sectors, such as art and cars. Alcantara is a material that inspires and speaks infinite languages ​​as Giulio Cappellini, who worked with us for many years, said.