Mazda collects design Oscar in Paris

Chris Gable | 02/08/2008

Its concepts have become showstoppers worldwide. Now, they've helped Mazda scoop one of the car world's biggest automotive design awards.



Mazda has been awarded the coveted Grand Prix du Design at this year’s car design ‘Oscars’ in Paris.

The award was accepted by Mazda design boss, Laurens van den Acker at he 23rd Festival Automobile International’s awards ceremony last night.

It’s the second time Mazda has collected a major award at the festival, having won ‘Most Beautiful Design Concept’ for its Senku concept in 2006. Its Mazda Ryuga Concept won another big design prize – the Louis Vuitton Classic Concept Award – last year.

Last night’s Grand Prize for Design award honours the work of a design studio or manufacturer and its influence on the automotive world. "This award reflects creativity and hard work of Mazda's entire global design team. To accept it on their behalf is a great honour for me personally," van den Acker said.

If you’re keen on your concepts, you’ll know that Mazda has been wheeling out some beauties at a great rate. During the past 16 months, in fact, its international design team has introduced five concept cars based on Mazda’s new Nagare design language. The world is Japanese for ‘flow’ and ‘the embodiment of movement’. It’s said to take its inspiration from how wind and water move in nature.



Mazda says its original Nagare concept car, for instance, (which debuted at the 2006 LA motor show) has surface articulation inspired by geological flow patterns. The Ryuga (Detroit motor show, 2007) is said to have a side body texture inspired by Japanese raked gardens. The inspiration for the Hakaze (Geneva motor show, 2007) was sand dunes and the Taiki (last year’s Tokyo motor show) is said to visualise the natural flow of air. The Mazda Furai which debuted at January’s Detroit motor show is said to display flow lines in a strongly sports car style.



The Festival Automobile International is held annually to "pay tribute to beauty, design and art" in the automotive industry. This year's jury consisted of leading figures from the sports car industry, architecture, fashion, design, art and the media. Jury members included well-known people from the design and automotive worlds like leading designer Anne Asensio, former F1 world champion Alain Prost and former race driver, classic car auctioneer and author of the classic Art and the Automobile, Herve Poulain.