The Renault Trezor has been awarded 2016’s Concept Car Design of the Year, based specifically on the votes of a 20-strong judging panel having few of the world’s top car designers. The peer-reviewed honor, received by Anthony Lo, Vice President, Exterior Design and Stéphane Janin, Concept-Car Director, was provided at a gala ceremony in Geneva (Tuesday, March 7th, 2017). The full results are posted in the Car Design Review 4 200-page yearbook.
Car Design Review 4’s editor Guy Bird stated: “It was a really close-run race this year however Renault’s low-slung, long-nosed, rear-wheel drive, two-seater electric GT really appealed to our panel of generally hard-to-please professional car designers. Judge after judge applauded the French EV concept’s dramatic exterior proportions, its interior flair and efficient use of materials and the strong design relation between exterior and interior. All round, the Trezor is a victory of creative design and a worthy winner of the 2016 Concept Car Design of the Year.”
Laurens van den Acker, senior vice-president of Groupe Renault corporate design stated: “It’s an honor to receive this award, due to the fact it’s voted by our peers, and that’s the hardest audience to meet. It’s great for our design team and their creativity, and I believe it only makes us hungry for more, it stimulates us to carry on.”
The Car Design of the Year awards are organised by the team behind Car Design News. They are unique due to the judging panel, that is exclusively compromised of a cross-section of some of the top car designers worldwide. This year’s panel includes design bosses from well-known marques like Peter Schreyer, chief design officer, Hyundai Motor; Mamoru Aoki, executive design director, Nissan Motor, Gorden Wagener, chief design officer at Daimler AG and Ralph Gilles, head of design, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.
Also represented were design directors of new start-up brands Nio (Kris Tomasson) and Lynk & Co (Andreas Nilsson), as well as leaders of some of the world’s significant automotive suppliers and universities. In order to choose the 2016 Concept Car Design of the Year, judges name their leading three concepts from a 12-strong shortlist provided by Car Design News staff. The votes are then confirmed and counted and the winner announced.
