SAIC wins LA Auto Show Design Challenge

China's SAIC, the parent company of Roewe and MG brands (yes, Morris Garages and what used to be Rover), took the top spot in the LA Auto Show Design challenge with its Mobiliant Concept, beating other contestants like BMW DesignworksUSA, Subaru, Mazda, Changfeng, Quoros, and others.

The theme for this year's challenge at the LA Auto Show was "Biomimicry & Mobility 2025: Nature's Answer to Human Challenges." Entrants were directed to propose design concepts that integrated the concept of biomimicry into transportation concepts. Quite a challenge and quite an open theme, especially when you consider that last year's theme was pretty straightforward: "Highway Patrol Vehicles in the Year 2025." In 2012 the Subaru SHARC concept took the top prize.

SAIC
Roewe's Mobiliant design concept envisions a future were vehicles will be able to scale buildings, traveling vertically.

SAIC's Mobiliant concept envisioned a single-seat vehicle for urban public transit. The vehicle itself was modeled after an ant, and designers provided for it to be able to move vertically along the side of a building, and to deliver passengers to various floors. The competition was said to be extremely close, with Mobiliant managing to top others due to its emphasis on mutualism as it relates to biomimicry -- two organisms' balance and harmony with nature. In Mobiliant's case, it was ant-like vehicles transporting passengers among an anthill-like metropolis.

The theme for this year was chosen by DesignLA Board of Directors, composed of about a dozen design studio executives, and the entrants were expected to address facing mobility such as pollution, congestion, sustainability, flexibility, and safety. The winning entry was required to present a mobility solution that mimicked nature in addressing all of these issues.

The Los Angeles Auto Show has long served as a spotlight for "green" cars, and a popular place to unveil new hybrid and electric vehicles. We'll have photos, video and complete coverage of all the manufacturer reveals and top news from this year's LA Auto Show right here, so check back often.

By Jay Ramey