Stage One of the Ferrari World Design Contest

MARANELLO, Italy--June 13, 2011: The first part of the Ferrari World Design Contest selection process has been concluded. The Contest has been launched by the manufacturer from Maranello in collaboration with Autodesk, the Ferrari's technical partner and proud supporter of the project, for 50 prestigious international design schools. The seven finalist schools, with students from all over the world, will be involved in planning the Ferrari of the future. The finalists are: IED and IAAD from Turin (Italy), the London Royal College of Arts (UK), the European Design Institute Barcelona (Spain), Seoul's Hong-ik College (Korea), the DSK Supinfocom from Pune (India) and the College For Creative Studies in Detroit (USA).

In this second part of the competition, which follows the part of the style research, the finalists will be involved in the creation of the three models every school can present: in 3D Autodesk ® Alias and as a physical model in a scale of 1:4. The contest's goal is to develop the Ferrari of the future, a pure hypercar, using technologies and materials of the latest generation. A supercar, extreme regarding its architecture and its functional aspects: hyper-light and hyper-fast, hyper-ecologic and hyper-technological. During this second stage, the students have to pay special attention to details and the interior's development, without leaving the car's functional aspects unconsidered.

The more than 200 projects, which arrived at Maranello, underlined great attention towards lowering consumption, combined with alternative powertrains, mainly focused on hybrids. Meanwhile the projects all have driving pleasure in common, ensured by weight reduction, while the design goes both ways: geometric or tortuous, with organic forms created by the students. It was a difficult selection process for the jury, under the presidency of Luca di Montezemolo, which decided unanimously, thanks to the works' quality, to raise the number of finalists to seven, compared to six schools scheduled for the contest's final stage.

The winners, with the results announced in July, will win an internship at Ferrari, and cash prizes. Autodesk will also present an award to the student team that best uses Autodesk Alias software to both communicate their design intent and demonstrate the process of design. The contest follows the tradition of Enzo Ferrari, brought forth by Chairman Montezemolo, supporting research and investing in young talents.