Winners. The BMW Group design team members with their creations.

THIS year’s prestigious red dot award for Design Team of the Year has been awarded to the BMW Group for excellence in product design. The BMW Group was honored by an international jury for outstanding contribution to the design industry at the gala awards ceremony on June 26 at the Essen Opera House, the Aalto Theatre (named after Finnish designer and architect Alvar Aalto).

Two automobiles, the BMW 3 Series Coupe and the new Mini Cooper S, along with the BMW F800S, BMW G650 Xcountry and the BMW HP2 Megamoto motorcycles, also won red dot awards for product design for the BMW Group. At the same time, the BMW Group subsidiary, BMW Designworks USA, won awards for its designs of the BMW Cruise Bike Junior, the design of a recycling station for beverage holders, and the fully automatic coffee percolator Talea Touch, making it a total of eight red dot awards for the BMW Group.

The red dot Design Team of the Year award is one of the most respected and internationally acclaimed awards in the industry, and this year saw more than 2,548 entries from 43 countries.

“Both the number of products submitted and the quality standards were excellent this year,” said Prof. Dr. Peter Zec, founder of the red dot awards and president of the international design association Icsid. The awards cross various categories, including architecture, automobiles, transport, industrial, leisure, lifestyle, office, computer and entertainment electronics.

The Design Team of the Year is awarded based on three main areas, including setting new benchmarks in both presentation and selection; managing excellence in the fields of education and training in design adoption and commercialization—where concepts are adopted into the marketplace. Previous winners of the award include Nokia, Apple, Pinnafarina and LG.

Chief designer Christopher E. Bangle leads the BMW Group design team. The combination of the BMW Group’s philosophy and Bangle’s personal belief in creative diversity has allowed the group to constantly push the envelope in design and innovation, and establish their leadership within the design community.

Bangle balances these ideals by allowing his team the greatest possible freedom in its search for inspiration and influence, drawing it back to a philosophy of an aspiration for authenticity. Thus, design not only expresses the character of the brand, but also the quality offered in a new product.  

The BMW Group’s design leadership is further enhanced with its integral subsidiary, DesignworksUSA, which has proven to be a vital and worthy partner to the BMW Group.

Beyond designing vehicles, equipment and accessories for the BMW Group, the design team is committed to a distinctive collection of international companies in the fields of IT, entertainment electronics, boat building, aircraft technology, household, lifestyle and sports. BMW Group DesignworksUSA won a second red dot award for the design of a recycling station for beverage holders, on top of winning two red dot awards to add to the group’s total win of seven awards.

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WHEN the Mazda 3 was first introduced locally three years ago, it was a sales hit due to its revolutionary exterior design. But the competition has caught up significantly, propping Mazda to launch an upgraded version in June. But does it have enough on all fronts to make customers look past the Honda Civic, the Toyota Corolla and even its Ford Focus cousin?

THIS year’s prestigious red dot award for Design Team of the Year has been awarded to the BMW Group for excellence in product design. The BMW Group was honored by an international jury for outstanding contribution to the design industry at the gala awards ceremony on June 26 at the Essen Opera House, the Aalto Theatre (named after Finnish designer and architect Alvar Aalto).

MOTOR Image Pilipinas, exclusive distributor of Subaru vehicles in Southeast Asia, is marking its first year of operation in the Philippines by offering special financing package deals to all new Subaru customers.

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