Winners of the 2013 Michelin Design Challenge announced

Michelin presented the three winners of the 2013 Michelin Challenge Design at its private Designers' Reception during of the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit's Renaissance Center.

A jury of automotive designers and industry experts picked the winners from the 15 finalists that best explored how design contributes to and impacts the ongoing effort to develop more efficient vehicles, while keeping the emotional side of car design front of mind.

This year's top three finalists are Jorge Biosca (Spain), Liu Shun (China) and Song Wei Teo (Singapore). Their work, along with the 12 other finalists, was displayed at the 2013 NAIAS in the Michelin Challenge Design exhibit.

Jorge Biosca, a freelance modeler and design consultant, made the top three with his ‘eLink' project. "[It's] a six-passenger light vehicle structure, with a highly efficient powertrain, combined with an adaptive camber control for tire rubber zone selection," said Biosca.

Huazhong University of Science and Technology student Liu Shun led his teammates Gao Zhiqiang and Chen Zhilei as they developed a concept with a fully-transparent glass body and carbon fiber frame, called ‘Dolphin', which is powered by maglev DC motors.

Song Wei Teo, currently in his final year studing automotive design at Coventry University, was also chosen for his ‘PolyPlus' design, which was "influenced by the use of vacuum-formed plastic packaging that protects its contents. Vacuum-formed plastics are inexpensive, light, tough and can be molded into different shapes easily."

This year's Michelin Challenge Design theme "HALF! Lightweight with Passion" asked participants to explore how design contributes to and impacts the ongoing effort to develop more lightweight vehicles that achieve greater fuel efficiency. The theme resulted in more than 900 registrants representing 72 countries.

By Rufus Thompson