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Volkswagen's New Beetle Wins Gold Award

22 May 1998

Volkswagen's New Beetle Wins Gold Award In the 1998 Industrial Design Excellence Awards (IDEA)

    AUBURN HILLS, Mich., May 22 -- Volkswagen has won a Gold
award in the 1998 Industrial Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) for its New
Beetle -- a car that has evoked an overwhelming positive response from the
public since its introduction this year.
    This award recognizes the New Beetle's captivating design that clearly
stands out from any other car currently on the market.
    The New Beetle's design rekindles the magic of the old Beetle, but it is
not a mere update of the original.  It is a completely modern car that is
functional, with plenty of creature comforts and the very latest advancements
in safety.
    Gerhard Steinle of Prisma Design International and one of this year's
jurors says it is "a design that's well accepted as a masterpiece by all
generations, no other current product seems to capture the zeitgeist of the
outgoing century more accurately.  Its shape makes you feel good by just
looking at it."
    The IDEA are presented annually by the Industrial Designers Society of
America (IDSA), a nonprofit association that represents the profession of
industrial design to education, business, government and the public.
    The purpose of the IDEA is to foster business and public understanding
about the impact of industrial design excellence on the quality of life and
the economy.  They have become one of the world's most widely accepted
recognition for excellence in the profession responsible for the form, use of
features and interactive qualities of products, exhibits and software.
    This year's winning designs have been selected out of 1,031 entries and
will be published in the current (May 25th) issue of Business Week magazine
the official cosponsor of the IDEA.  The actual award ceremony will be the
closing event of the IDSA National Conference taking place, in San Diego from
Sept. 23rd through 26th.  There will also be a Design Gallery that showcases
all the IDEA Gold and Silver winners.
    Each entry was assessed by a jury of 13 distinguished, award-winning
designers according to how well it fulfilled five criteria of design
excellence: design innovation, benefit to the user, benefit to the business,
ecological responsibility and appropriate aesthetics and appeal.
    Being a Gold winner, the New Beetle received top scores for its design in
all categories -- an impressive success and a confirmation for the work of
Volkswagen's design centers in Simi Valley, California and in Wolfsburg,
Germany.