Volkswagen designer gets 2011 lifetime achievement award

Volkswagen Group designer Walter de'Silva was chosen for this year's Lifetime Design Achievement Award at EyesOn Design, which ran over Father's Day weekend in the Detroit area.

About 260 invitation-only vehicles were in attendance at Sunday's car show on the grounds of the Edsel & Eleanor Ford House in Grosse Pointe Shores. They were chosen based on this year's theme of "Designing for the Future."

Only car designers who have previously won the Lifetime Design Achievement Award were allowed to vote on a winner for 2011. De'Silva accepted the honor on Friday at an awards banquet in Detroit.

"He is working with a German company and has taken their Teutonic design and added flare and excitement to a very functional look," said Jack Telnack, a former winner who voted for de'Silva this year. "His Volkswagen and Audi designs are very clean and on trend and have a lot of customer appeal."

Previous recipients of the Lifetime Design Achievement Award include designers such as Tom Gale, Giorgetto Giugiaro, Chuck Jordan, Shiro Nakamura, Sergio Pininfarina and Telnack.

Designers Choice Awards were given out on Sunday to vehicles for each category on the show field.

By Michelle Koueiter