Design Contest: Ferrari 'New Concepts of the Myth'

Ferrari and Pininfarina presidents, Luca di Montezemolo and Sergio Pininfarina were pleasantly surprised by the students work in many ways but whereas works of high standards were expected they did not expect to present their prizes to as many as twelve students. The competition called for four First Prize winners but eventually Ferrari and Pininfarina top executives were so impressed by the enthusiastic response of the students that they have awarded internships to all the twelve designers who took part to the four projects that have been awarded the Bronze Prancing Horse Trophy.

Tutors and students at all of the four renowned automotive design schools that participated in the project (College for Creative Studies of Detroit, Coventry University School of Art & Design, Istituto Europeo di Design of Turin and Tokyo Communication Arts) took the promoters by surprise by introducing a key element into their project: team work. Ferrari president, Luca di Montezemolo, said he was delighted to see how enthusiastic and passionate the students were, "it was like being at the prize giving of a Formula 1 race".

Sergio Pininfarina commented "The more I look at them the more I become aware of how many extraordinary ideas the projects present, the trouble is that usually the overall design tends to prevail on the details which, on the contrary, are often more relevant and important".

The jury was composed of a team that decides the style of Ferrari cars designated for production: President Luca di Montezemolo, Vice President Piero Ferrari, General Manager Jean Todt, Vice General Manager Amedeo Felisa, the new Concept Design Chief Donato Coco and the Head of Product Portfolio Development Massimo Fumarola. In addition, Life Senator Sergio Pininfarina and Ken Okuyama, Chief Designer for Pininfarina, were part of the jury. In addition Giuseppe Bonollo and Frank Stephenson, currently responsible for Product Portfolio Management of Fiat, and Fiat and Lancia's Style Centre, took part in the jury, in his former role of Ferrari's leader of Product Strategies and Concept Design.

The four project winners were:

'Millechili' - by Luis Agullo Spottorno (Spain) and Felix Hiller (Germany) - Istituto Europeo di Design, Turin

'Fiorano' - by Rob Battams (UK), Tom Hardman (UK) and David Imai (USA), Coventry University - School of Art & Design

'Tre Diviso' - by Daisuke Nagasato (Japan), Kim Teakyung (Korea) and Hiroaki Yakubo (Japan) - Tokyo Communication Arts

'Ascari' - by Manuele Amprimo (Italy), Werner Gruber (Italy) and Yu Jae-Cheul (Korea) - Istituto Europeo di Design, Turin

Special mentions for significant proposals have been given to:

The high level of attention and care shown towards the project: Tokyo Communication Arts

The most voted project at the ferrariworld.com website: 'Ferrari F Zero' - by Jean-Michel Raad (France), Shen Jiang (China) and Leon Dang (China) - Coventry University School of Art & Design

Best project name: 'Millechili' - by Luis Agullo Spottorno (Spain) and Felix Hiller (Germany) - Istituto Europeo di Design, Turin

Female team: 'Vigore' by Keiko Ikeda (Japan), Hye Jin Kim (Korea) and Yanagimoto Kazuo (Japan)

'612 Lafayette' - by Shigenori Maeda (Japan), from the College for Creative Studies of Detroit, has won the Alcoa Award, a special design prize for Excellence in Design for Aluminum: the winner will receive an aluminum reproduction of his model.

The Sunday Times, the leading UK Sunday newspaper, also presented its special Reader's Award to the 'Ferrari F Zero' project.

By Giancarlo Perini