Michelin has announced the winners of the 18th global Michelin Challenge Design competition, “Michelin Concours d’Elegance 2050 – Future Classic.”

“So I tried to keep it simple and to bring something from product design aesthetics into this industry,” explained Michelin Challenge winner Georgii Varodi in an interview with Tire Review. “I’ve also worked with and consulted with an actual designer… we worked together to create a new DNA for DS design. What could it be in the future? What’s simple or how do I see that grant? What vision can I transfer to the object? The vision, you can see it in my design. I try to keep it simple and a great new DNA for a brand. So I’ve chosen the story of a new James Bond movie, so I put my car here. The challenge was to create a car for a future that will become a future classic. So I developed a story about a new James Bond movie and it allowed me some space for creativity there.”

The project took him three months to complete.

“In the beginning I created the core concepts for a movie. Then I explored the shape of a car and I spent a lot of time creating a physical 3-D model. Then to finalize it, I spend a lot of hours to, to create images. It was a completely digital model.”

Varodi recently completed his first year in his Masters program in transportation design at a design academy St. Petersburg, Russia. When asked how he plans to use this to advance his career path, he said, “It’s a real benefit for my portfolio. My aim is to get to the industry, I’m hard working for it. This particular challenge is a real opportunity for me.”

Works by individuals and teams of designers from Algeria, Argentina, Brazil, China, France, India, Russia, South Korea and the United States were among the winners and finalists selected by a jury of the world’s top automotive designers and industry experts.

The Michelin Concours theme challenged participants to design a vehicle for the year 2025 that will become a classic and defines or represents this transitional era in automotive design and technology.

The winners of this year’s challenge include:

• First place: Georgii Varodi of St. Petersburg, Russia, for design entry “DS Bertoni”
• Second place: Harsh Panchal of Vadodra, India, for design entry “Mystique”
• Third place: Boussid Mohammed Ramdane of Oran, Algeria, for design entry “Bugatti Type 2050 SC Atlantic”

Representatives from the first-, second- and third-place winners were invited to“Movin’On by Michelin”, Michelin’s global sustainable mobility event held in Montreal. The winners and their designs were joined by winners from the 2018 global competition and recognized during a private reception at Movin’On. Winners participated in a private portfolio review with members of the jury and leading designers and participated in a workshop on sustainable mobility.

“The Michelin Challenge Design competition celebrates innovation in vehicle design. The quality of this year’s entries was outstanding,” said Ben Ebel, lead user experience designer for Michelin North America and chairman of Michelin Challenge Design. “We congratulate the winners on designing innovative, thought-provoking, futuristic entries that are worthy of winning the Michelin Concours d’Elegance in 2050.”

The three winning designs, six finalists and four honorable mentions were chosen by the jury from more than 1,000 entrants representing 67 countries. In the past 18 years, Michelin Challenge Design has received more than 13,000 entries from 130 countries.

When asked why the Michelin Challenge matters so much, Varodi said, “I suppose the Michelin Challenge in particular is the biggest challenge in design for students. It’s a real opportunity for us. First of all, it gives you a real confidence because in the beginning, you don’t know if your design is really cool or do you have true vision or not. With that, I became more confident and that has really helped.”

To see more images of the winning entries, go to www.michelinchallengedesign.com.