Top car designs awarded

Automotive brands including Audi, Citroen, Kia and Land Rover were among the winners at the Good Design Awards 2014 ceremony held at White Bay Passenger Terminal in Sydney this week.

The highest award given in the Automotive and Transport category, the ‘Best in Category’ award, went to Citroen’s C4 Grand Picasso.

The judges said that the designers understood the target market well and singled out the removable centre console, sturdy fold-down trays, adaptable sun visor system and interior space as highlights.

Priced from $43,990, the C4 Picasso joined the Australian people-mover market in March, and is powered by a 110kW/370Nm turbo-diesel engine linked to a six-speed automatic transmission.

Kia’s pro_cee’d GT sports coupe, priced from $29,990, won a Good Design Award, with judges' comments including, “an elegant balance between beauty and aggression in the overall styling, the end result is a car that looks fast even when standing still”.

At present Australia is the only market outside Europe to receive the Slovakian-built pro_cee’d GT, which like the Citroen went on sale here in March. Powered by a 150kW/265Nm 1.6-litre turbo-petrol engine, the pro_cee’d GT was designed at Kia’s European Design Centre in Frankfurt.

The Audi A3 sedan and Range Rover Sport made it through to the ‘Selections’ round of the awards, a step just short of winning a Good Design Award.

Fifteen categories of products and services are judged for the Good Design Awards, and for product design judges take into account seven criteria in their selection: Form, Function, Safety, Sustainability, Quality, Commerciality and Innovation.

The program began under the auspices of the Industrial Design Council of Australia, which was established in 1958.