“Unique strengths and real quality”: three cars awarded with the Red Dot: Best of the Best
During the assessment of the category “cars and motorcycles”, the jury members of the Red Dot Award: Product Design drove the submitted vehicles on the runway of the airport in Mülheim, Germany. They tested the multimedia and communication facilities and took a critical look at the interior and exterior design. Afterwards, the jury members were able to make a profound decision about their design quality. This year, three of the vehicles received the Red Dot: Best of the Best, the competition’s top award: the “Stinger” from Kia, the “720S” from McLaren and the “Ferrari Portofino”.
Kia Stinger – travelling with style
Inspired by the spirit of historic grand tourers, Stinger is a luxuriously appointed, supremely comfortable and gracefully designed car. It confidently exudes an air of elegance and athleticism and convinces with classic gran turismo proportions: a long bonnet and short front overhang, an extended wheelbase and muscular rear shoulders. The five-seat interior with a steeply-raked windscreen pampers the passengers with ample space and luxurious equipment.
„Beautiful Products that Tell the Visual Story of their Function”: McLaren 720S
The 720S embodies McLaren’s design philosophy “Beautiful Products that Tell the Visual Story of their Function”. While the carbon fibre construction allows an almost 360 degree visibility, the bodyside provides an unusually clean form for a car with 720PS. The muscular rear haunches underline power and the doors hinging up and forward allow better access in tight parking situations. The lightweight interior with active driver display puts an emphasis on ergonomics and emotion.
Ferrari Portofino - outstanding design from Italy
Designed under the direction of Flavio Manzoni, the Ferrari Portofino invites with its fresh and decisive design language to both dynamic sporty driving and to a relaxing spin. Especially the size of the retractable hard top posed a significant challenge for the designers but they have cleverly masked the volume in height. The result is a coupé with a sleek, aerodynamic fastback which visually hides the retractable hard top even when it is retracted.
Martin Darbyshire about the winning cars
After the adjudication, jury member Martin Darbyshire, founder of the consultancy tangerine, praised the high quality and the various characteristics of the awarded vehicles: “All three of them are completely different. Two are high performance super cars but are from different worlds. There is a wonderful Ferrari, which has the nostalgic sense of Ferrari with it, but then in contrast, there is a brand-new McLaren which feels like a completely different generation of super car. So, they are all very different: They have unique strengths, real quality, in both performance and through design, and real quality in terms of execution of details.”
The winners of the Red Dot: Best of the Best will be honoured at the Red Dot Gala on 9 July 2018. On stage of the Aalto-Theater in Essen, the laureates receive their well-deserved trophies in front of around 1,200 international guests. At the subsequent Designers’ Night in the Red Dot Design Museum, all laureates will celebrate their successes amid the awarded products. During the after-show party, the winners’ exhibition “Design on Stage”, which shows all of the awarded products, will be opened.
