Audi, BMW, Cadillac Win EyesOn Design Awards at NAIAS

Audi, BMW, and Cadillac were all presented with "Design Excellence Awards" at the North American International Auto Show yesterday. Audi managed to take two of the four prizes in the fourth annual EyesOn Design Awards, awarded to best designed production and concept vehicles.

The Audi R8 V10 and 2010 BMW Z4 were awarded honors in the production category. The R8 V10 includes exterior design touches, like LED headlights, a new rear diffuser, and dual oval exhaust pipes. Inside, it has a functional, but complex, instrument cluster easily within the driver's reach. A sleek and aerodynamic shape adornes the new Z4, which makes it look nice from any angle, and comes with an incredibly neat three-stage removable hard-top. Audi's A7 Sportback Concept has long, flowing lines, and a calming white leather and wood interior. It won the award for concept car design, along with the Cadillac Converj Concept. The plug-in hybrid Converj is very futuristic on the outside, with a techno-phobic's nightmare for an interior. The fast-charging car has four individual seats, but a design that will be nearly impossible to bring to production.

Sponsored by the Society of Automotive Engineers 2009 World Congress and Dassault Systems, the awards are presented to the two best production car designs and concept cars. The jury, led by former Chrysler VP Tom Gale, includes BMW design director Chris Bangle, Senior VP and Chief Styling Officer for Harley-Davidson Willie G. Davison, and Larry Erickson, a Transportation Design professor at the College for Creative Studies. Only vehicles debuting at the Detroit Auto Show qualify for the award.

Press Release

Audi, BMW, Cadillac Win EyesOn Design Honors at North American International Auto Show

The Audi R8 V10 and BMW Z4 took home "Design Excellence Awards" in the production category from the fourth annual EyesOn Design Awards at the North American International Auto Show, while the Audi Sportback Concept and the Cadillac ConverJ Concept won the top design honors in the concept category. The awards are judged by top design executives from automotive manufacturers and by academics from transportation design programs. To be eligible for the awards, the vehicles must debut during NAIAS. These judges are led by Founding Chairman of the EyesOn Design Awards Tom Gale (retired Vice President of Design at Chrysler), as well as the three Head Judges he selected for this year:

-- Chris Bangle - Director of Group Design, BMW Group

-- William "Willie" G. Davison - Senior Vice President and Chief Styling Officer, Harley-Davidson

-- Larry Erickson - Paul and Helen Farago Chair of Transportation Design, College for Creative Studies

These are Audi's first wins at the EyesOn Design Awards with the designs of the Audi R8 V10 and the Audi Sportback Concept winning an award in each category. Christian Bokich, Manager of Midwestern Communications, accepted the award on behalf of the Audi design department.

Chris Chapman, Design Manager at BMW, accepted a "Design Excellence Award" for the BMW Z4. The Z4 redesign resulted from an intra-company competition in which Nadya Arnaout and Julianne Blasi won. The judges honored this women-led team, which is irregular in the automotive design profession. Arnaout was on hand as well to accept her EyesOn Design Award on behalf of the BMW Group.

Cadillac, after winning previous awards with the CTS, CTS-V, and the CTS Coupe, won a "Design Excellence Award" in the concept category for the Cadillac ConverJ Concept. Accepting the award was Simon Cox, the director of Advanced Design for General Motors, who did so on behalf of GM Design.

The awards were sponsored by SAE 2009 World Congress and Dassault Systemes. The show is put on by the Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology (DIO) as part of the EyesOn Design series of events. The DIO is a not-for-profit that aids the visually impaired and facilitates research related to the eye. Each year, they host the EyesOn Design automotive exhibition at the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House in Grosse Pointe, Michigan that also focuses on design. The show is recognized by its peers as one of the best classic car shows in the country. The DIO enjoys a close relationship with automotive designers through the EyesOn Design events and by understanding the correlation between design and the eye.