Car Design of the Year Awards 2007

For the third year running, Car Design News has run an online vote for the best car designs to have debuted in 2007. With over a thousand responses and an international readership, the CDN Award is a ‘by designers for designers’ competition.

Awards were presented to the design team of each winning design at the Geneva Motor Show on Wednesday 5th March.

CDN director Nick Hull presents the award to Adrian van Hooydonk,
Director Design, BMW Cars

Car Design of the Year 2007 – Concept

• 1st Place: BMW Concept CS, 4794 points
• 2nd Place: Mazda Taiki. 4495 points
• 3rd Place: Citroën C-Cactus. 4115 points

The award for the best concept show car announced in 2007 went to the BMW Concept CS, with over 51% of readers awarding the BMW a top three ranking.

The award was presented to Adrian van Hooydonk, Director Design, BMW Cars, for the BMW Concept CS concept that debuted last year at the Shanghai Motor Show.

“This award means a lot to us and the team” said van Hooydonk, “There was a lot of sweat that went into this design so we were pleased with the very positive reaction to the car,especially that from Car Design News”.

Car Design of the Year 2007 – Production

• 1st Place: Fiat 500, 4643 points
• 2nd Place: Maserati Gran Turismo. 4140 points
• 3rd Place: Audi A5. 3965 points

From left to right: Nick Hull, CDN, Roberto Giolito, Head of Fiat Design,
Lorenzo Ramaciotti, Design Director of Fiat Group Automobiles
and Sam Livingstone, Marketing Director CDN

What a result for Fiat Group! For the second year running they’ve won the production car category, and this year they won the top two places.

The Fiat 500 was the clear winner here, with 50% of readers giving it a top three ranking. The result for the Fiat is more remarkable, given that the other top five contenders were all luxury models costing far more than the baby Fiat.

Roberto Giolito, Head of Fiat Design, accepted the award together with Lorenzo Ramaciotti, Design Director of Fiat Group Automobiles.

“We are really pleased to receive this award” said Ramaciotti, “it’s the second year in a row that Fiat Group have won, last year with the Alfa 8C at the top end and now the Fiat 500 at the lower end of our range and the Maserati in second place this year”.

About Car Design News

Car Design News is an automotive design media with over 100,000 readers per month including many automotive design studio staff – over fifty OEM design studios are paying subscribers including those of Ford, Volkswagen, GM, BMW, Toyota, Porsche, PSA and Renault.

Established in 1999, Car Design News has a unique design focus with no road tests  just informed perspectives on car design written by experienced automotive designers to give a unique designer perspective.

For more information visit www.cardesignnews.com.

(Source: Car Design News)