Lotus did a design study of the Toyota Venza crossover showing how it could reduce vehicle weight by 38 percent with just 3 percent more material cost.
Consumers want more fuel-efficient vehicles and one way to help is to make vehicles lighter.
With that in mind, this year’s Los Angeles Auto Show Design Challenge asks design studios to envision the 1,000 pound, 2+2 vehicle that is both comfortable and secure, while delivering satisfactory driving performance without sacrificing the emotional connection and beautiful styling consumers demand.
For the first time, participating design studios from not only the U.S., but also Germany and Japan, will compete against each other to showcase their talents. Design studios from General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz Germany (Smart), Mercedes-Benz Japan (Maybach), Mercedes-Benz U.S., Nissan, Toyota and Volvo will explore new ideas in automotive design as they contend for this top annual design honor.
“More than ever, automotive designers are able to experiment with hi-tech materials and alloys and this year’s Design Challenge has provided them with the opportunity to use their creative talents to look into the future, exploring the hottest technologies to fulfill the needs of the consumer and the environment,” said Chuck Pelly, director of Design Los Angeles and partner in The Design Academy Inc.
The winning design will be announced Nov. 18 during the Design Los Angeles conference at the Los Angeles Auto Show. Judging criteria will be based upon not only meeting the weight constraint (1,500 pounds maximum with occupants), but also for the artistic beauty, comfort, uniqueness of design, roadworthiness, sustainability, performance and user-friendliness of the vehicle.
Entries will be judged by Tom Matano, director of Industrial Design at San Francisco’s Academy of Art University; Imre Molnar, dean of Detroit’s College for Creative Studies; Stewart Reed, chairman, Transportation Design, Pasadena’s Art Center College of Design and Clive Hawkins, president, Aria Product Development.
The Design Challenge is sponsored by Faurecia, an automotive supplier specializing in seats, interiors, front ends and exhaust systems, and Yokohama Tire, which works closely with auto manufacturers in the U.S., Europe and Japan to develop tires for the latest concept vehicles.
The Design Challenge is part of the Design Los Angeles automobile designers’ conference that is held every year during the Los Angeles Auto Show Press Days, November 17-18, 2010. Each year, for the past seven years, a new Design Challenge theme is chosen and the major automotive design studios showcase their talents, competing against each other to flex their creativity and further explore new ideas in automotive design. The Design Los Angeles conference also gives designers access to design industry leaders and provides the opportunity to address common industry issues.