Car Design Fetish

It’s hard not to love Mini.  The cars are cool, the people who buy them are deemed “hip”, and apparently they have some pretty kick-ass design competitions as well.

Launched recently is Mini’s competition asking for ideas for their center accessory rail, a pivotal feature in their interior.  Mini is asking their creative fans to come up with concepts for uses for the rail, using (at minimum) any basic 2D skills they might have — sketches, photos, video, and even 3D models.  The top 3 concepts will be selected by Mini and turned into prototypes to be displayed on the rail at the Paris Motor Show in October 2010.

Prizes include a trip for two to the show to see your accessory on display, MacBook Pros, iPods, and even iTunes gift cards.

The Deadline is 11 May 2010… what are you waiting for?

Mini Countryman Product Design Competition

The Domus Academy, based out of Italy, is hosting a unique automotive design competition through their Master in Car Design program.  The competition aims to redefine what makes a vehicle unique, citing the constant merging and shifting corporate landscape as a possible reason why cars:  A) still have 4 wheels, B) still have the same interiors, and C) are, well, still pretty much the same after 100 or so years on the road.

The competition asks designers to examine the neglected needs of the consumers and to propose solutions for their changing needs.

Scholarships are available to the three best entries, covering up to 70% of the total tuition fee for a Masters Degree for the 2010 academic year.

For those interested, this is a terrific opportunity to both continue their design education and to take part in a unique competition.

The competition is open to students and professionals, with a deadline of 31 March 2010.

More information can be found at domusacademy.it/unlikeacar

Full press release after the break.

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The team at Local Motors has announced their latest competition: a vehicle for Texas that fulfills the needs of hunters.

Whether they are aiming for big bucks or quail, the hunting community is a broad and yet highly-particular one with tremendous requirements.  The latest competition realizes that pickup trucks may not be the best solution for satiating the needs of hunters, focusing on the optimal hunting vehicle as a sort of “compartmentalized home base”.

We can see this as a terrific opportunity to get creative with vehicle design as more than just a styling exercise; imagine an all-in-one vehicle worthy of the “Sport Utility Vehicle” moniker.  This competition also has a heavy set of requirements in tow (no pun intended).  Objects like winches and tire pumps need to be accounted for, as do a set amount of passengers and 4-wheel drive.

The competition will draw 3 finalists, each with cash prizes.  Submissions begin on 27 January and end on 9th February, with voting ending on the 16th of February.

As usual, visit the Local Motors competition page HERE, and read up on the design brief below.

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Happy (almost) New Year!  CDF wants to help you celebrate by giving you a car design tutorial book!  We recently reviewed “How to Illustrate and Design Concept Cars” and are willing to send along our pristine, glossy copy to one lucky reader!

How to win?  Simple.

1) Follow CarDesignFetish on Twitter and tweet this message:  I want to win this car design book from @CarDesignFetish for #FreeStuffFriday! http://bit.ly/74JeC4

3) Enter up to once per day from today (December 28th) until December 31st.

4) Must be a US or Canadian resident to enter (sans Quebec… sorry!)

5) The winner will be announced on January 1st, 2010.  Come back and read the bottom of this post to see who wins.

Good Luck!

Black Friday has come and gone… what did you buy?

CDF wants to contribute to the madness by giving you a couple of games!  Inspired by all of the racing from store to store at odd hours of the morning we’re teeing up a couple of great racing games for you: PGR3 and Forza 2!  Now, they may not be the NEWEST editions of the games, but they certainly are tons of fun… and should get you in the mood for the rest of your consumer racing these next 30 or so days.  And in the spirit of the season, we’re working this contest with our compadres over at SideQuesting.com, our sister site about video games.

How to win?  Simple.

1) Follow both SideQuesting and CarDesignFetish on Twitter and tweet this message:  I want to win these games from @SideQuesting and @CarDesignFetish for #FreeStuffFriday! http://bit.ly/5UvWh5

3) Enter up to once per day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday

4) Must be a US or Canadian resident to enter (sans Quebec… sorry!)

5) Check back on Sunday Nov 29, 10PM EST (when we draw the winner) at the bottom of this post to see who wins.

Good Luck!

[Update:  The winner of the games is.... @HotPocketNinja!  Congrats on winning and thanks for entering!]

Fancy yourself a bit of an automotive DIY savant?  Do you love your hands-on vehicle modification skills?  If you’re a Designer than the answer is probably a proud YES.  eBay has a contest designed just for us!  Launched recently, the eBay Motors “2009 Motors Master Contest” has budding automotive enthusiasts entering for a chance to win $2500 in eBay Motors shopping bucks, receiving a starring role in a series of instructional videos, and a trip to SEMA to showcase their handiwork!

Entrants are asked to upload a video showcasing why their project — Muscle, Tuner, Off-road or Motorcycle — should be featured at SEMA.  The videos will then be rated by the community and finalists chosen, from which a winner will be select via a judging panel of top automotive bloggers (Hi eBay, I’m available!), SEMA reps, and representatives from eBay Motors.  The winner will be dubbed the Motors Master, and will forever be the envy of many an automotive fan.  The contest is also awarding $1000 to a random entrant or site visitor each week.

I’ve known many designers (and family members) who’ve taken it upon themselves to tinker with their cars or even build a vehicle from scratch.  From our simple Bondo aesthetic additions to our racing tweaks, we Designers can’t help but make a project out of anything we own that has wheels.  This is prime opportunity to show off that passionate hobby.

Watch the video below, and be sure to enter at the contest’s official home page!

I love shooting brake concept vehicles.  Audi especially seems to have nailed that proportion down.  Local Motors, however, believes that budding young designers and car enthusiasts can best the quad rings with a shooting brake competition aimed at developing an electric car for San Francisco… or as I like to call it: the house that Joe Montana built.

The center of the tech 2.0 world is home to emerging technology and enthusiasts looking for fresh, hip, advanced designs.  Heck, Apple is just right down the road.  Local Motors asks would-be designers to create a compact, yet spacious electric automobile.  The winner gets $2000 in the competition that runs until September 8th.

Full details after the break.  Or, just click here to go to the LM page.

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Sketch jams, something we’ll be showcasing VERY SOON here on CDf, are a ton of fun.  Core77 knows this, and often puts together some incredibly creative and enjoyable design competitions based upon the principle of 1 hour’s worth of design time.

The latest asks designers to undertake an hour’s worth of time and fill it with ideation sketches.  That’s pretty much it.  The ideation could be of anything: cars, products, haircuts.  Just make sure that they are plentiful and beautiful, as these are the most important factors of judging.

The comp starts yesterday (Aug 4th) and ends on Aug 30th.

Click here to go to the competition.

designboom, in collaboration with Nissan, have launched the “Think Outside the Parking Box” design competition.  The comp, created to develop ingenious looks at urban parking and storage of a vehicle, runs through to 27th September 2009.  Nissan is co-sponsoring the competition as a means by which to promote the new Qashqai, with several high-level personnel sitting on the jury of the competition.

We often run across car design competitions, mostly traditional in nature: design a car that meets these needs, create some hot sketches or a presentation, etc.  In this case, there is a great understanding that a vehicle fits within an overall infrastructure of its environment.  This competition is just itching for some incredibly creative entrants.

So, what are you waiting for?  Full press release after the break.

Click here to go to the competition page: http://www.designboom.com/nissan.html

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Local Motors announced the winners today of the Detroit Motors Competition.  Give them a look and see if any of these designs can jump start our economy.  The entries for this competition were not as strong as the previous ones.  Perhaps it was because of all the student designers dealing with finals and working on getting internships.  I am not too sure about the winner of this one.  Personally the 3rd place winner had a stronger entry.

Check them out and tell us what you think a Detroit car should be.  Press release after the jump.

1^st Place: Michigan by Dmytro Zyubyairov of Germany

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