Awards showered upon BMW and MINI Design

BMW Group pockets over a dozen coveted design trophies Munich. Once
again, the outstanding role played by the BMW Group in product and
vehicle design has been rewarded with a plethora of prizes. The Munich
automobile manufacturer was awarded another gold medal for outstanding
design by the renowned ranking list "Ranking:Design". Here
the design.net AG evaluates a total of 19 national and regional design
competitions every year and compiles a hit list of the 100 best
according to the number of the prizes and rankings achieved. In the
current 2002/2003 evaluation, BMW takes top ranking in the category
"Transportation and Special-Purpose Vehicles" as well as under
the heading "Leisure, Sports and Play" - and in the first
discipline it even had a considerable point lead over the next-ranked
competitor. And in the "Hall of Fame" which
"Ranking:Design" published for the first time, summing up all
the awards given since 1997, BMW topped both categories with a
considerable margin. BMW's unique leadership position in
"Ranking:Design" is equivalent to a knighthood: in the field
the hit list is regarded as the most important independent gauge of
internationally acclaimed design prowess. This spectacular ranking is
only one of a whole series of honours BMW has recently chalked up.
Since the start of the year more than a dozen prestigious prizes have
been conferred upon BMW's creative team. Hanover's iF International
Forum Design GmbH bestowed the renowned iF design award 2003 upon six
BMW products: in the category "Transportation Design" the new
Z4 roadster, the 7 Series, the MINI Cooper S and the BMW motorcycles R
1200 CL and F 650 CS were singled out for honours. In addition, the BMW
men's wristwatch won the coveted trophy in the "Product
Design" discipline. For many decades the iF design award,
presented in March, has been regarded as one of the world's major
design competitions. This year the jury of international top designers
awarded 423 prizes in a total of six disciplines. The Munich
automobile manufacturer also achieved top rankings from the famed
"red dot" design award, presented annually by the North
Rhine-Westphalia design centre. Of a total of nine products which BMW
submitted to this year's competition, eight were given the famous dot.
Two of them, the MINI Trolley Bag and the MINI City Bag, even collected
the especially coveted award "red dot: best of the best" for
top design quality. Both products were developed as part of the MINI
Collection in the Munich studio of the BMW subsidiary DesignworksUSA.
Once again, the "red dot" for top design quality was awarded
to the BMW Z4, which stands out for its striking lines, and the
imposing Two-Wheel Cruiser R 1200 CL, as well as the lifestyle products
BMW Slidecarver, MINI Skater, MINI sunglasses and the MINI wristwatch.
With a good 1500 submissions from 28 countries, the "red dot design
award" is also one of the world's largest design competitions. The
red dot, awarded on June 30 in Essen's Aalto Theater, is regarded
worldwide as a seal of design quality. The jury, made up of prominent
designers, examines both the design and the implementation of new
technologies in a total of eleven product groups. This year it awarded
339 red dots for top design quality. The "red dot: best of the
best" is awarded only three times within each product group.
"We feel confirmed in our standards of innovative premium
design," BMW chief designer Chris Bangle comments on the deluge of
awards. He is especially pleased by the fact that lifestyle products
designed in-house met with such unanimous approval from the jurors as
important components of the BMW and MINI brand identity. Especially the
MINI accessories, which echo the unmistakable design of the cult car,
combining imagination with a touch of humour, seem to have suited the
jury's tastes to a tee.