Awards ceremony of the third SAIC Motor Roewe Cup, the International College Student Auto Design final competition was held at the company’s design center on Nov 6. A total of 15 Roewe Internet vehicle models stood out. They explained the brand charm, foresight and scientific content and displayed young designers’ vitality and ingenuity.

Opportunity outweighs the prize

The competition carried the theme of Roewe’s intelligent future. All candidates were chosen by SAIC Motor’s design evaluation team and specially invited international judges and considered as potential in design concept and model quality. Fabio Filippini, design director from Pininfarina, Bumsuk Lim, vehicle design professor from the US Art Center and Samuel Chuffar, design director of Italy-based Icona were all invited to the competition.

Zhang Lanyu from Jilin University won the first prize. Gan Lihan from Hunan University and Meng Chaoran from Wuhan University of Technology won the second prize. The third prize went to Zhang Zeyu from Coventry University, Jiang Jiongfan from Donghua University and Chen Ruoyu from Tongji University. Winners will have the opportunity of becoming an official employee of the SAIC Motor, which is more attractive to them than the good prize money. Last year, seven young students from the competition became a member of the company and participated in design of various vehicle models. The first and second prize winners will be able to visit the UK to attend the company’s UK design tour and expand their international outlook.

The competition drew in college students from more than 100 institutes of higher learning and received hundreds of design works. Competitors are from many top-notch universities in China including the Tsinghua University, the Jilin University and the Tongji University, as well as foreign facilities, such as the UK Royal College of Art, the US Art Center and the University of Cincinnati.

Roewe’s new design language plus Internet vehicle equals to?

SAIC Motor has been a leader in Internet vehicle and original auto design, and therefore its Roewe new design language and internet vehicle design was a highlight of the competition.

SAIC Motor signed a strategic deal with Alibaba last July. In May this year, Roewe had released its brand slogan. Roewe 360, had hit the market and attracted public attention in September, and model’s new design put a new face on the brand image. The model won Red Dot Design Award, an international design award in Germany. Competitors at the design event focused on internet vehicle leading future life and depicted how smart internet vehicle can be under future new energy revolution.

All design works featured strong visual impact, forward-looking idea and international and individual characteristics. They won applause from those professional judges, injected new life in auto design in China, and let the world see the interpretation of auto design and brand culture by Chinese young designers.

The competition is the first of international kind hosted by an auto company and offers opportunities for young auto designers to show their talents. It is expected to help develop more auto design talents and usher in a new era of auto design development in China.