Porsche 911 Carrera wins Red Dot Design Award

The 911 was selected by a jury 30 international experts among more than 4,500 product designs from 58 countries.

Chief designer Michael Mauer, leader of the Porsche 911 design team, stated: “With our Style Porsche design process, we ensure that a Porsche 911 evolves in terms of its appearance, while remaining recognizably a 911. At Porsche we use two concepts to achieve this: brand identity and product identity.”

“Brand identity means that a Porsche has to be recognizable as a Porsche at first glance and product identity means that it is immediately apparent which Porsche it is. The design DNA of our products is our most important asset – which is precisely why we are constantly questioning and developing it.”

For more info check the video with Mauer’s detailed remarks on the design of the new 911.

Below we report the details from the official release.

From the official Press Release:

Integral to the Porsche design DNA in the case of the 911 is the steeply rear-sloping roofline, the flat, stretched silhouette, exciting surfaces, the air intake instead of a radiator grille, a downward tapering rear window, pronounced shoulders, the visible tailpipes, and of course the ignition lock, which has always been on the left of the steering wheel in a Porsche.

The 100 millimeter longer wheelbase and reduced height combined with the up to 20-inch wheels underpin an even more athletic appearance. In the passenger compartment, the driver is now even more closely integrated with the cockpit thanks to the raked centre console with the high-mounted shift lever or gear selector located especially close to the steering wheel in typical motorsport fashion.

What Porsche is demonstrating yet again with the 911 Carrera is that outstanding design quality is more than just look and feel and functionality – the design’s unmistakable identity makes it the ambassador of the sports car brand.

This prize also pays tribute to the life’s work and achievements of Professor Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, who died in Salzburg on 5 April 2012 at the age of 76. As the creator of the Porsche 911, he established a design culture at Porsche that has shaped the Stuttgart sports cars to this very day. His philosophy of good design is an important legacy that the company will continue to honour for all time. His credo was: “A coherently designed product needs no adornment; it should be enhanced by its form alone. Good design should be honest.” Porsche designers profess this conviction to this very day.

The award will be presented on 2 July 2012 at the red dot gala at the Aalto theatre in Essen.

(Source: Porsche)