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International Car Design Competition '91
Announcement of the Winners of the International Car Design Competition Grand Prize Winners: Mr. Chen and Mr. Mirajker

The results of the 1st International Car Design Competition (sponsored by Car Styling and supported by San'ei Shobo, Tokyo Auto Salon and lzumiya) were decided on January 11th and announced at the Tokyo Auto Salon.

The competition was divided into two stages with the results of the preliminary first stage process (a rendering of the concept based on two-dimensional submissions along with a written statement explaining the design concept) announced on August 18, 1990 in Vol. 78 of Car Styling. Twenty nine student entrants and 24 general entrants passed this stage. Of these successful entrants, 14 student entrants and 16 general entrants proceeded on to the final 3-dimensional judging. The 1/10 scale model was submitted for each entry to the office of the Design Competition or taken directly to the Auto Salon at Harumi Trade Center by January 10th. After judging the model was put on display for view by visitors to the Tokyo Auto Salon.

The theme was "BPT-Basic Personal Transportation" or the development of a new concept vehicle with the minimum amount of space and functions to be a useful part of our lifestyle. The judging was conducted by five judges headed by the Chief Judge Mr. Yoshio Nakamura (Chairman of FISITA), Mr. Yoshihiro Inomoto (technical illustrator), Mr. Ryuzo Hoshino (Asst. Professor, Tokyo University of Art and Design), Mr. Kenji Morie (Professor, Musashino Art University) and Mr. Akira Fujimoto (Chief Editor, Car Styling).

The judges all felt that the main feature of this year's competition, compared to the past three Competitions which were based only on scale model submission, was the degree of craftsmanship shown in the entries and the increase in the level of skill demonstrated by the entrants. Also, they were able to see that this competition has grown in form and content due to the increase shown in number of and the high quality of entries from abroad. Judge Hoshino said, "We highly evaluated Mr. Mirajker's entry as it is based on and has roots in the Indian environment and lifestyle."

During the Auto Salon, on the night of January 12th, we, together with lzumiya, also sponsored a Designer's Meeting. Of the professional designers at the meeting who had also visited the Auto Salon, we took a survey for the purpose of granting a special prize separate from the judging committee awarded prizes. The lzumiya Prize was decided by that survey of professional designers.

The designs and models submitted for the Competition were a very successful drawing card throughout the period of the Auto Salon (January 11th through 13th). This clearly indicates that the concern shown towards design matters by the general populace is on the rise.

However, this being the first time that the Competition was held, we did encounter a few technical difficulties, especially in relationship to entries from abroad. One problem was that overseas readers of Car Styling get their copies of the magazine much later than domestic readers do. Also, entrants living abroad were faced with formidable problems in sending their design studies and/or scale models to Japan.

Nevertheless, especially considering the fact that we had many more inquiries than actual entries from abroad, we want to expand and increase the participation in the Design Competition on a world wide-scale with the 2nd International Car Design Competition next year.