Carmakers in the cast for best design awards

Honda and the JLR group have scored honours in this year's Australian International Design Awards (AIDA). Honda's CR-Z hybrid hatch, the Jaguar XFR and Range Rover Evoque took awards in the Automotive and Transport category.

The new Honda CR-Z hybrid hatch was applauded for introducing the "world's first six-speed transmission in a hybrid drivetrain" and "evoking the iconic style of the 1980s CR-X".

Jaguar's top-flight XFR also won a 2012 Design Award; highlighting interior design aspects such as the pop-up rotating dial for the transmission and high-end sound system with 17 "strategically placed" speakers.

The Range Rover Evoque went one better with a Design Award for Best in Category. The top-spec version of the compact SUV also uses Jaguar's transmission dial and the illuminating puddle lamps that project ‘Range Rover' onto the ground were listed among its style features.

David Blackhall, Jaguar Land Rover Asia Pacific Managing Director, said: "Winning two of the awards in our industry at the Design awards is a tremendous achievement for the Jaguar Land Rover brands, this recognition from the Judges confirms the strength of design and engineering at Jaguar and Land Rover and the momentum we have at JLR".

Audi's Q3 ("it brings the swooping lines of sports coupe to the SUV segment for the first time"), the KODO (Soul of Motion) designed Mazda CX-5 and Hyundai's asymmetric 1+2-door Veloster, and "fluidic design" generated i40 and new i30 all won Good Design awards.

Entries in the Automotive and Transport category included the surprisingly spacious and spirited Suzuki Swift Sport, the Peter Schreyer-supervised Kia Rio five-door hatch and Subaru XV with its range-wide colour multifunction screen and edgy styling.

The AIDA are a division of Good Design Australia and development of the efforts of the Industrial Design Council of Australia; formed in 1958 by a group of "distinguished captains of industry" in an effort to promote Australian design and the value of design to industry and consumers.

This year awards also went to the Chappelli NuVinci bicycle designed in Australia and the USA. The bike integrates a chrome alloy frame and continuously variable hub to ensure the optimum gear ratio, and the BRP Can-Am Spyder Roadster three-wheel motorcycle.

Beating all 105 finalists for the top award was the Deepsea Challenger submersible, built in Leichardt NSW. Four Australian companies (Acheron Project, Design + Industry, McConaghy Boats and Finite Elements) and film director James Cameron designed and produced the single-person sub, which can dive 11 kilometres.

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