LA Auto Show Affords Exclusive Sneak Peek at Design Competition Entry

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 14, 2004 -- Imagine what the Ultimate LA Machine would be. Then, ask automobile designers to come up with their interpretation and you'll get a broad array of creative ideas. That's precisely what the Los Angeles Auto Show asked Los Angeles area automobile design studios to do -- and the results are fascinating, entertaining and thought provoking.

Today, the LA Auto Show provides a sneak peek into the competition by releasing one of the 13 entries -- the Hyundai NTT, "Entity," submitted by the Hyundai Kia America Design Center. All other entries will be visible on media days, beginning Jan. 5, with the winner announced on Jan. 6.

The Hyundai design team describes the banana-colored NTT as part surfboard, skateboard and BOOMbox. It has tandem four-row seating to slice through traffic and a built-in surfboard forming the roofline. The studio suggests, "The Hyundai NTT is not only a vehicle, it's a way of life."

The design challenge is part of the auto show's theme -- Design Los Angeles -- as a way to showcase Los Angeles area design studios' imagination in a fun and creative manner. Over the past several months, studios have internally debated and some have even held competitions to determine which two-dimensional conceptual rendering will represent their individual studio.

According to David O'Connell, chief designer at Mitsubishi Research & Design of North America, it's been hard to keep all his designers from becoming involved.

"Projects like this are really fun to work on, even though they are truly 'blue sky' in nature," O'Connell explained. "Yet at the same time, they are firmly grounded in real world challenges that require real world solutions."

Judging the competition are three esteemed educators: Tom Matano, Director of the School of Industrial Design at Academy of Art University (San Francisco); Imre Molnar, Dean of the College at the College for Creative Studies (Detroit); and Nathan Young, Executive Vice President of Art Center College of Design (Pasadena).

  The Design Challenge participants are:

      BMW Group DesignworksUSA
      California Advanced Product Creation (Ford)
      Calty Design Research (Toyota)
      5350 Industrial Concepts (General Motors)
      Honda Research & Development
      Hyundai Kia America Design Center
      Mazda Research & Development
      Mercedes-Benz Advanced Design of North America
      Mitsubishi Research & Design of North America
      Pacifica Design Center (DaimlerChrysler)
      Volkswagen/Audi Design Center California

               Frank Stephenson Opens Designers Conference

Design Los Angeles, in addition to being the show's theme, doubles as a conference for automobile designers on Jan. 6. A number of programs, speakers and breakout sessions have been developed in close collaboration with the design community to serve the professional interests of automobile designers.

Opening the inaugural conference as the featured speaker is Frank Stephenson, director of concept design at Ferrari Maserati Group. Stephenson is in an enviable position, holding the keys to the future direction of two of the most revered automobile marques in history. Appointed in July 2002, Stephenson's influence has been seen in the Maserati MC12 and in the all-new Ferrari F430, which makes its North American debut at the LA Auto Show. Previously, he spent 11 years at BMW, where he began as a senior designer in Munich and eventually took over as chief designer, where he penned the popular New Mini Cooper.