Interactive Design Competition Sponsor Faurecia to Award Internship to One Student Designer

AUBURN HILLS, Mich., June 22, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Faurecia (http://www.faurecia.com) today reminded students enrolled in design schools across the United States and Canada that their entries into the Car Design News-General Motors vehicle-interior design competition are due no later than June 30. Faurecia is a sponsor of the interactive competition that invites full-time design students to submit designs online for a car interior and a car exterior based on briefs representing four GM brands: Buick, Chevrolet, Cadillac and GMC. GM Design and partner sponsors Faurecia and Dassault Systemes will select eight winners, who will earn internships at GM's Warren, Mich., studio and whose work will be honored at the 2012 North American International Auto Show in January.

A ninth winner will be awarded an internship by Faurecia, with the opportunity to work after the competition at a Faurecia design studio in Europe, Asia or North America. Faurecia judges will select their winner based on the entry's care for details, color and material solutions, research of perceived value, problem-solving ability, ingenuity, innovation, surprise, presentation quality and story-telling.

Students have been submitting interior designs throughout the spring. The entry period for exterior designs runs from July through October 31. During the two-phase competition, design students at any level, from undergraduate to doctoral, may post their designs at www.cardesigncontest.com. Judges, mentors, other students and readers of Car Design News then comment on the work, which the student may further develop, based on the design-community feedback, until the submission deadline.

Olivier Boinais, industrial design manager for Faurecia in the Americas, is a mentor of the competition. Boinais is responsible for the team of Faurecia designers who develop seats, instrument panels, consoles and doors for the next generation of North American vehicles. His contributions can be seen on vehicles such as the Cadillac SRX, Chrysler 200, Ford Fiesta and VW Passat.

"As the auto industry continues to seek ways to adopt lighter-weight, natural materials and new approaches to vehicle systems, future designs will result from increasingly collaborative, global efforts," said Boinais. "The Car Design News-General Motors Interactive Design Competition not only shines a light on the most creative of our emerging designers but also exposes them to the collaborative process with which they will be working in our industry."

The competition is open to students of any design discipline, including architecture, product design and industrial design.

For the latest updates on Faurecia's involvement with the competition and other activities throughout North America, connect with the company at http://www.facebook.com/faureciaNA and http://www.twitter.com/faurecia_NA.

About Faurecia North America

Faurecia North America had sales of $3.4 billion in 2010. The Group has 32 production sites in the United States, Canada and Mexico and employs more than 10,000 people in the region. It has four technical and development centers, situated in Auburn Hills, Holland and Troy, Mich., and in Columbus, Ind., as well as a customer center in Toledo, Ohio.

About Faurecia

Faurecia is the world's sixth-largest automotive supplier with four key Business Groups: Automotive Seating, Emissions Control Technologies, Interior Systems and Automotive Exteriors. In 2010, the Group posted total sales of $18.22 billion. The company is headquartered in Nanterre, France, with its North American headquarters in Auburn Hills, Mich. It employs 75,000 people in 33 countries at 238 sites and 38 R&D centers. Faurecia is listed on the NYSE Euronext Paris stock exchange. For more information, visit: www.faurecia.com

SOURCE Faurecia