Michelin Challenge Design, celebrating its 10th year as one of the world’s top design competitions, gathered its 2011 jury in July at The Mullin Automotive Museum in Oxnard, Calif., to select the vehicle designs and concepts that are on currently on display at the 2011 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit.
Michelin Challenge Design Jury for 2011
If you ask Michelin Challenge Design (MCD) participants their top reasons for entering the global design competition, most include the opportunity to have their work reviewed and selected by a jury comprised of the world’s leading industrial and transportation designers and educators.
For the 2011 program, Michelin assembled eleven luminaries from the international design community to review a collection of more than 1,000 vehicle designs submitted by individuals, companies and students from 78 countries (both MCD records). Together they narrowed the field down to 34 works for the most popular reason given for entering MCD: prominent exhibition at the 2011 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS). Each entry submitted is reviewed for its uniqueness, emotional appeal, design courage and technical execution in support of a central theme: “Plus 10: The Best is Yet to Come.”
The Michelin Challenge Design theme recognized that the world is poised for a decade of unprecedented change in transportation design. Evolutions in technology, legislation, consumer taste and mobility needs will transform the automotive landscape worldwide.
Entrants were challenged to design a vehicle that people in their area (country /region) would enjoy using in the year 2021, ten years from now. This vehicle should answer the preferences, lifestyle and transportation needs for the population in their part of the world.
This year’s Michelin Challenge Design jury, in alphabetical order, includes:
Alfonso Albaisa – Vice President of Design,
Nissan Design America.
Albaisa received a Bachelors Degree in Industrial Design from the Pratt Institute in New York and began working for Nissan Design America in 1988. He is well-known for having worked on the Altima, the Maxima and the Rogue. He was appointed the Director of the North American Design Studio in 2005. During this tenure he oversaw all the Nissan Design America design activities. He was also appointed on assignment in Japan during this time as the product chief designer for a next-generation compact car. In 2007, Albaisa was appointed vice president of Nissan Design Europe located in London. In this role, he headed a team of more than 50 international designers, modelers and support staff. In London, he influenced the creation of the recently launched Juke and its concept precursor, the Qazana.
Anne Asensio – Vice President of Design Experience,
Dassault Systèmes.
Asensio joined Dassault Systèmes in November 2007 as Vice President of Design Experience. In this role, she will launch DS’s Design Experience strategy with the mission to define and implement best-in-class design solutions for enterprises, design studios and individual designers as well as to foster a Design Excellence culture within Dassault Systemes. Prior to her DS appointment, Anne held influential roles at General Motors and Renault, and won several prestigious accolades for her talent and experience. Most recently Anne worked as Executive Director of Design, Advanced Design, at the General Motors Design Center, also in charge of vehicle design at GM’s Michigan, Los Angeles and England design studios. She led the development of a number of recent auto show concepts including the Cadillac Sixteen and the Hummer H3T, and others, the latest one being the Chevrolet Volt, presented in 2007 in Detroit. Anne joined GM in 2000 as Executive Director of the Brand Character Center, and later was responsible for Interior Design, Quality and Brand Character. She began her career at French automaker Renault, where she was responsible for driving the design of small and mid size cars, such as the Megane range. In 2001, Fortune magazine featured Anne in an article entitled “25 Rising Stars”, which highlighted next-generation global leaders, all age 40 or younger. Automotive News named her “Automotive Woman of the Year” in 1997, and recognized her in 2005 and 2000 as one of the top 100 women in the North American automotive industry. Crain’s Detroit Business included her in its list of “Michigan’s Most Influential Women” in 2001.
Chris Chapman – Director of Automotive Design,
BMW Group DesignworksUSA.
Chapman is the Director of Automotive Design, BMW Group DesignworksUSA. He graduated from Art Center College of Design in 1989 and then spent four years working at the Isuzu Technical Center of America where he designed the exterior of the gull-winged XU-1 concept vehicle. He moved on to BMW DeisgnworksUSA where he designed E87/E81 1 series hatchback, E53, X5, X-coupe concept and the CS1 Concept. He is credited for the flame surfacing idea in the car body design. The body of the car should reflect light in many different ways like a flame – an idea which originated from the BMW brainstorm designers group called Deep Blue Project in 1996 (the Deep Blue name has been given later to the BMW designed boat).
Tisha Johnson – Designer, Volvo Monitoring Concept Center
and Founder, Trendviz Studio.
Johnson is an interior designer with Volvo Monitoring Concept Center in Camarillo, California. She works with a multidisciplinary team developing both pre-production and long term strategic concepts. The studio’s core strength is in its ability to forecast future mobility trends & create products which have a major influence on Volvo Car Corporation. She has worked at Volvo since 1999 and was responsible for the award winning interior design of the Volvo 3CC electric sports car that was developed in Southern California. Johnson is also a strategic designer and the founder of Trendviz Studio. Trendviz uses a narrative design process in order to communicate advanced developments in the areas of culture, technologies, and materials. At Art Center College of Design Johnson continues her long standing connection to the school as an alumna and instructor in the transportation department. She has been teaching at the college since 2001 and she is most interested in helping designers create a clear dialogue with their audience.
Geza Loczi – Director of Design,
Volvo Monitoring Concept Center.
Before entering the automotive industry, Loczi studied his craft at the Art Center College of Design. In 1980, Loczi joined Volkswagen as Design Manager, Michigan Studio. This was the beginning of his international experience. Following Volkswagen, Loczi established his own consulting design company, Loczi Design. In 1983, Loczi worked as a consultant to Volvo through Designworks, Chuck Pelly Design, an international design office in California. Loczi then moved to Sweden, with his family, to work with Volvo. Loczi moved back to California with Volvo’s consultants, Designworks, in 1985. In 1986, when Volvo set up their own studio in California, he was appointed Chief Designer, Volvo Monitoring and Concept Centre. Since 1986 Loczi has contributed to products such as the Environmental Concept Car (ECC), P2 cars in production today (S80, V70 and S60), and recently, the Safety Concept Car (SCC) shown recently at the Detroit Motor Show. As Director of Design, Loczi continues to sketch and develop designs through Alias on the computer. After forty-five years in the Automotive Industry, Loczi will be retiring in the fall of 2010 and will continue as a Senior Advisor Consultant.
David W. Marek – Chief Designer & Sr. Manager,
Automotive Styling Group, Honda R&D-Americas.
Marek grew up in Northern California around custom and rod guys like Don Tognotti and Dick Bertilucci, both who worked with Sam and George Barris before they moved south. He used to love going to Obexers Market in Tahoe to get the latest Tom Daniel creation but had a “problem”– he could never just build them straight out of the box! He always was doing something crazy to them. Marek graduated with honors from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA in 1987 where he earned a BS degree in Industrial Design. He has been an instructor at the college since 1989 and has been instrumental in bringing numerous sponsored projects to the Transportation Department. Marek also serves on the Art Center Alumni Council. Today, he makes his living as the Chief Designer and Senior Manager of the Automotive Styling Group at Honda Research and Development–Americas. He’s been with Honda since 1987–during which time he has been involved in numerous projects. Marek has served as Project leader for such projects as the 1994 Accord Wagon and the 1997 Acura CL. He uses his free time to create Automotive Fine Art and graphics for C.A.R.T. championship cars including the Honda team graphics. Examples of Dave’s work can be found in various enthusiast magazines including, Road & Track, Racer, Street Rodder and Car Graphic.
Stewart Reed – Chairman, Transportation Design Department,
Art Center College of Design and Michelin Challenge Design Jury Chairman.
Reed graduated from the Art Center College of Design with honors in 1969 and elected to join Bruce Meyers, originator of the dune buggy off-road vehicles. With Meyers Manx, Reed designed and developed the “Manx SR”, considered one of the best-executed, road-worthy kit vehicles. Reed’s design career includes nine years at Chrysler’s advanced design department; six years as the chief designer of Toyota’s California advanced design studio; and eight years as vice president of design with Prince Corporation, now part of Johnson Controls. In 1994 he established Stewart Reed Design to consult to the manufacturing industry in both automotive and consumer products. Reed introduced the Gear Box concept vehicle at 1998 North American International Auto Show. Also, in 1998 Robert Lutz undertook the reintroduction of Cunningham Motor Corporation with Briggs Cunningham. The Reed-designed Cunningham C7, was unveiled at the 2001 North American International Auto Show, where Reed’s experience and support for the exhibit design and fabrication were instrumental. In 2005, Reed returned to his alma mater by accepted the position of chairman of the transportation design department at Art Center College of Design.
Frank Saucedo – Director of Advanced Design, General Motors.
Saucedo directs a staff of more than 30 designers, sculptors, engineers and analysts, charged with providing a West Coast perspective to future GM products. The LA studio augments GM design operations in Detroit, Melbourne, Fujisawa, Japan, Ruesselsheim, Germany and Trollhattan, Sweden. Saucedo has a long list of design credits that include international experience at General Motors’ Russelsheim studio, where he worked on Opel products, including the Corsa, Tigra, Astra and Omega. Saucedo was formerly the chief designer at Volkswagen’s Calif. design studio, as well as chief designer at General Motor’s Advanced Concepts Center in Newbury Park, Calif. While at ACC, Saucedo contributed concepts for the current Corvette and the CK-series pickup. Also included in his credits are several movie vehicle projects. Saucedo graduated from Art Center College of Design in 1994 with a bachelor’s degree in industrial and transportation design.
Freeman Thomas – Strategic Design Director, Ford Motor Company.
Thomas leads the advanced design teams in California and Michigan. In addition to developing product design strategies and concept vehicles for Ford, Lincoln and Mercury, his team collaborates with the company’s Advanced Product Creation team to create compelling new production vehicles. Before Ford, Thomas was head of DaimlerChrysler’s Pacifica Advanced Design Center. He also served as vice president of DaimlerChrysler Advanced Product Design Strategy, chief designer at Volkswagen and in design positions with Audi and Porsche. His design career includes the 500-hp Dodge Tomahawk motorcycle, the “Noble American Sedan” strategy that evolved into the production Chrysler 300C, the Audi TT concept and the Volkswagen Concept 1, known today as the New Beetle.
Franz von Holzhausen, Chief Designer, Tesla.
As Chief Designer, Franz is responsible for driving the overall design direction of Tesla, and is charged with establishing a world class design competency for all future Tesla design concepts and production vehicles. Prior to joining Tesla, Franz was Director of Design at the Mazda North American Design Center. While at Mazda, Franz pioneered the Nagare surface language design philosophy. The word Nagare itself is but one of 150 different ways to describe motion in the Japanese language. The Nagare and Furai concepts were the progenitors of The visual interpretation of what has become the new design language for the Mazda brand. These two initial concepts led to the development of the Ryuga, Hakaze and Taiki As well as the Kazemai – the latest concept unveiled in Moscow. Franz also led design of the Mazda RX-8, Tribute, and Mazda5 production vehicle facelifts, and was instrumental in the design development of the 2009 Mazda6 and Mazda3. Before spearheading design at Mazda, Franz held the Design Director position at General Motors. The Pontiac Solstice, Saturn Sky, and Opel GT are all examples of Franz’s efforts at GM. Franz began his career as Assistant Chief Designer at Volkswagen, where he was involved in projects from Concept One to the Microbus. Franz began his studies at Syracuse University in the field of industrial design and graduated from Art Center College of Design in 1992 with a bachelor’s degree in Transportation Design.
Phillip A. Zak – Chief Designer, Hyundai North American Design Center.
Zak, is the Chief Designer at Hyundai’s North American Design Center, Irvine, CA and works in parallel to European Chief Designer Thomas Buerkle developing vehicles for the North American market. Zak joined Hyundai from his previous role as head of exterior design at GM Europe. During his tenure at GM Europe, Zak was charged with leading the exterior design of the Opel, Vauxhall and Saab brands, as well as the design of certain Saturn products for North America. He is responsible for the design of the new Opel Ampera (unveiled at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show), the Chevrolet Equinox, and the GMC Terrain (unveiled at 2009 NY Auto Show). Zak started his career at General Motors in 1988 as a designer sketching new vehicle concepts. During his 20-year career at General Motors he held various positions including lead designer, chief designer and design manager. Zak graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Art in 1988, earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts while majoring in both Transportation Design and Industrial Design.
About Michelin Challenge Design
Michelin Challenge Design (www.michelinchallengedesign.com) was launched in 2001 as a way to showcase creativity and innovation in vehicle design on a global scale around a central theme. Each year, Michelin invites designers around the world, from individuals to small and large companies, to create and display significant design work that would normally not have an opportunity to be shown at a major auto show.
Your Privacy Choices