Mazda wins 2008 LA Design Challenge

The Mazda Kaan concept has won the fifth annual LA Design Challenge competition, part of the Design Los Angeles automobile designer's conference. The award was presented during the second press day of the 2008 Los Angeles Auto Show, following a designers' luncheon and keynote speech by Daniel Simon, visionary futurist and author of Cosmic Motors.

As we reported last month, nine local Southern California design studios entered the competition to envisage how motor sport vehicles might be in the year 2025, answering the theme ‘Motorsports 2025'.

The judging panel of the Challenge -  Tom Matano, Imre Molnar, Steward Reed and Daniel Simon - chose the Mazda Kann as the winning design for how well it integrated a high level of innovation and technology into the design, as well as its truly unique styling.

The hubless-wheeled Kann was conceived to race in 'E1', the racing formula that replaces F1 in the year 2025. Its tires pick up electricity from an electro-conductive polymer embedded in the track surface, sourcing power from a solar panel farm in the Mojave Desert. This sub-level electro-conductive polymer works in unison with Mazda's patented electronic tire system to power the car up to speeds of 250mph.

According to Mazda, the design was inspired by the shapes electricity makes in nature (such as a lightning bolt), which is a new development of the Nagare/Flow design philosophy.

"The scope of the entries this year was very impressive and in the end it came down to which team had the most innovative and artistic design that could go beyond the expectations and challenges of racing today," said Chuck Pelly, director of Design Los Angeles and partner in The Design Academy, Inc.

"Mazda's designers created an optimistic vision of 2025 and ultimately brought unique styling back to motor sports," Pelly said.

The Mazda Kaan beat entrants from Audi of America Design Center California, BMW Group DesignworksUSA, General Motors' Advanced Design, Honda's R&D North America, Mercedes-Benz Advanced Design North America, Mitsubishi's R&D North America, Toyota's Calty Design Research and the Volkswagen of America Design Center. See our previous story and the attached photo gallery for details and images of all the contenders in this year's Challenge.

By Eric Gallina