Michelin Announces Winners Of Light Truck Global Design Competition

"Once again, our jury of top automotive designers was impressed by the creativity, innovation and quality of the entries," said Thom Roach, vice president of original-equipment marketing for Michelin North America. "The biggest surprise was the interest in pick-ups, or open-bedded vehicles, from so many unexpected places and how designers saw the opportunity for such vehicles to meet the needs in their respective countries or regions.

"Given the surprising growth in SUV and CUV categories around the world, it will be very interesting to see if pick-ups and open-bedded vehicles also grow well beyond the traditional markets. We have already seen early signs with new concepts and vehicles from Mercedes Benz, Hyundai, PSA and others recently introduced or announced," Roach said.

The three winning designs, seven additional finalists and eight honorable mentions were chosen by the jury from among more than 1,200 registrants representing 73 countries. Over 17 years, Michelin Challenge Design has received more than 12,000 entries from 126 countries.

Winners of the 2018 Michelin Challenge Design:

• First place: Josh Sandrock of San Diego, Calif., USA, for design entry "Volkswagen Type 10 Pick Up"
• Second place: Daniel Yee of Cleveland, Ohio; Marcus Hamilton of Columbus, Ohio; and Claire Keys Pytlik of Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, for "Michelin ToolBOX Pick Up"
• Third place: Vinod Pakalapati and Surya Konijeti of Pune, India for "X Pick"

Finalists of the 2018 Michelin Challenge Design (in alphabetical order):

• Benoit Aubertin of Ciboure, France, and Antoine Alaurent of Saucats, France, for design entry "Woodcutter Climber"
• Hawon Jang of Ansan, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea, for "Mini Square"
• Wojciech Jurkowski of Krakow, Poland, for "Renault Subtil"
• Yixing Liao, Wei Wang, Hangbin Xu, Kang Zeng, Daiqi Fan and Jiali Han of Hangzhou, China, for "UFORCE 16"
• Alfred Munkenbeck of London, United Kingdom, for "Sherpa"
• Li Pengliang and Sun Hongyang of Zhengzhou, China, for "Oasis"
• Thomas Weger of Edgerton, Wis., USA, for "MSW Pick Up"

Juror Comments

"As somebody who is heavily involved in truck design, seeing some of the fresh ideas coming from all around the world was really overwhelming. There's a lot of stuff there that is fresh and exciting. It was eye-opening," said Michael Gillam, FCA.  

"I think the story of the pick-up is the freedom they promise. We've seen so many entries from different countries and different regions in the world, and you can see that people are looking for this type of flexibility. They're coming from all over the world. They're coming from Europe, they're coming from Asia, from India, from China, everywhere you can see people have different needs," said Thomas Sycha, BMW Group Design. 

"There was a lot of diversity. I saw a lot of designs that show this diversity between product design and lifestyle. I was really impressed by seeing the variety of different ideas and looking at how they apply function to lifestyle as well," said Freeman Thomas, Ford Motor Company.

"The basic premise of the pick-up is still pretty much the same. What has changed the most is they provide more creature comfort. Trucks were something that were used by farmers and they've become more of a vehicle for personal use and free time," said Frank Saucedo, General Motors.

"There was so much variety. It's not just the North American perspective or European perspective, but so many are emerging markets where you can see the different needs that the different cultures would require from these vehicles," said Richard Plavetich, Nissan Design America.

"It never fails at the Michelin Challenge (Design), you're basically reminded again that it has not all been done and that's the most fascinating aspect of being a designer, there's still much to be discovered," said Chris Chapman, Hyundai Design North America.

"I think the biggest thing I saw was being able to do multiple things with the same vehicle. I was really amazed at the design work they put into it and the modular capabilities of being able to stretch and shorten and make trucks that you can park anywhere," said Rob MacCachren, off-road motorsports racer and four-time Baja 1000 winner.

"Once again, we saw Michelin Challenge Design open the doors to human imagination and creativity. And seeing what people have in their hearts and how they are able to express their passion through computer design was pretty amazing," said Damien Michelin, honorary juror for Michelin North America.

"I think there's consensus with the jury team that uniquely, what we term 'the pick up', and it's maybe viewed a little differently all over the world, is still an incredibly strong growth part of the marketplace in the future. So I think the consensus of our jury team is there's a massive future for what we call the pick-up truck," said Stewart Reed, jury chairman, of Art Center College of Design in California.

Additionally, the jury chose to recognize the following eight entries as Honorable Mentions in the 2018 Michelin Challenge Design (in alphabetical order):

• Mattia Brunelli and Luigi Marrocu of Rome, Italy, for "Mini Sandman"
• Mo Mingqi of Guilin-Guangxi, China, and Xu Ying of Hengshui-Hebei Province, China, for "Gemini"
• Brian Hernan Isabella of Lanus, Buenos Aires, Argentina, for "ALEDAN"
• Mohammed Ismail of Mandya, Karnataka, India, for "SAM Self Assembling Module"
• Dr. Hussein Ali Al Jammazi of Jeddah City, Saudi Arabia, for "NAMLA"
• Fernando Machado of Curitiba, Brazil, for "Liger"
• Seunghee Seo of Daegu, South Korea, for "Moving Farm"
• Jiachen Zhu of Wuhan, China, for "FoldEx Urban Logistic Pick Up"

(Images of the winning entries are available at www.michelinchallengedesign.com.)

Representatives from the first-, second- and third-place winners will be guests of Michelin at "Movin'On by Michelin," the premier global sustainable mobility event to be held in Montreal, May 30–June 1, 2018, where their winning designs will be displayed and they will participate in a private portfolio review with members of the jury and leading designers.

All finalists and members of each winning team are invited to join an exclusive online community restricted to Michelin Challenge Design winners and jurors.

2018 Michelin Challenge Design Jury:

• Stewart Reed: Chair, Transportation Design Department, Art Center College of Design, Consultant and Jury Chairman, Michelin Challenge Design
• Chris Chapman: Chief Designer, Hyundai Design North America
• Michael Gillam: Exterior Design Manager, Ram Design, FCA
• Rob MacCachren: Off-Road Motorsports Racer, Four-time Baja 1000 Victor
• Damien Michelin: Honorary Juror, Michelin North America
• Richard Plavetich: General Manager, Design Business, Nissan Design America
• Frank Saucedo: Director, Advanced Design Studio, General Motors
• Thomas Sycha: Exterior Design Manger, BMW Group Design
• Freeman Thomas: Director, Strategic Design, Ford Motor Company

About Michelin

Dedicated to the improvement of sustainable mobility, Michelin designs, manufactures and sells tires for every type of vehicle, including airplanes, automobiles, bicycles, earthmovers, farm equipment, heavy-duty trucks and motorcycles. The company has earned a long-standing reputation for building innovative premium tires. In addition to tires, the company also publishes travel guides, hotel and restaurant guides, maps and road atlases. Headquartered in Greenville, S.C., Michelin North America (www.michelinman.com) employs about 22,850 and operates 20 major manufacturing plants.

SOURCE Michelin

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