The Car Designer of the Century was an international award given to the most influential car designer of the 20th century. The election process was overseen by the Global Automotive Elections Foundation. [1]
The winner, Giorgetto Giugiaro, was announced at an awards gala on December 18, 1999 in Las Vegas.
The process for deciding the Car Designer of the Century started with the list of candidates below.
The next step was for a jury of 132 professional automotive journalists, from 33 countries, under the presidency of Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, to reduce the list to 5, which they did, and the result was announced in November 1999. Finally the 5 were ranked by the jury and the overall winner was selected.
The Ford Pinto is a subcompact car that was manufactured and marketed by Ford Motor Company in North America from 1970 until 1980. The Pinto was the first subcompact vehicle produced by Ford in North America.
Sir Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis was a British-Greek automotive designer. He designed the Mini, launched by the British Motor Corporation in 1959, and voted the second most influential car of the 20th century in 1999.
Ian Gordon Murray, is a South African-British designer of Formula One racing cars for Brabham and McLaren and the McLaren F1 high-performance road car. Founder and CEO of Gordon Murray Design and Gordon Murray Automotive, he has subsequently designed and built a number of sports cars and a variety of other automotive vehicles.
Harley Jarvis Earl was an American automotive designer and business executive. He was the initial designated head of design at General Motors, later becoming vice president, the first top executive ever appointed in design of a major corporation in American history. He was an industrial designer and a pioneer of transportation design. A coachbuilder by trade, Earl pioneered the use of freeform sketching and hand sculpted clay models as automotive design techniques. He subsequently introduced the "concept car" as both a tool for the design process and a clever marketing device.
Gordon Miller Buehrig (B-yur-rig) was an American automobile designer.
Automobile was an American automobile magazine founded in 1986 by a group of former Car and Driver employees, led by David E. Davis with support from Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, using the credo No Boring Cars. From 2014-202, Automobile had been absorbed by the Motor Trend Group.
The North American Car, Utility and Truck of the Year are a set of automotive awards announced at a news conference each January at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The jury consists of no more than 60 automotive journalists from the US and Canada.
The World Car Awards is a group of automobile Car of the Year awards selected by a jury of 102 international automotive journalists from 30 countries. Cars considered must be sold in at least two major markets on at least two separate continents prior to 30 March of the year of the award. The contest was inaugurated in 2003, and officially launched in January 2004.
Luc Donckerwolke is a Belgian automotive designer, president, and chief creative officer of the Hyundai Motor Group and the Genesis automotive brand. Prior to joining the Hyundai Motor Group, he was the design director at Volkswagen Group's Bentley, Lamborghini, Škoda, and Audi brands. In 2022, a jury panel of 102 journalists among 33 countries named Donckerwolke the "World Car Person of the Year" for significantly impacting the automotive industry.
Automotive design is the process of developing the appearance of motor vehicles, including automobiles, motorcycles, trucks, buses, coaches, and vans.
Richard Arthur "Dick" Teague was an American industrial designer in the North American automotive industry. He held automotive design positions at General Motors, Packard, and Chrysler before becoming Vice President of Design for American Motors Corporation (AMC).
Walter Maria de Silva is an Italian car designer and former head of Volkswagen Group Design, until 2015. Since beginning his car design career in 1972 as trainee car designer for Fiat's Style Centre. De Silva has also worked as a designer at I.DE.A Institute, and as head of design for Alfa Romeo, SEAT and the 'Audi brand group'. He is presently President of the Design Studio Walter De Silva & Partners.
The Car of the Century (COTC) is an international award that was given to the world's most influential car of the 20th century. The election process was overseen by the Global Automotive Elections Foundation. The winner, the Ford Model T, was announced at an awards gala on December 18, 1999 in Las Vegas, Nevada, US.
The Car Engineer of the Century was an international award given to the most influential car engineer of the twentieth century. The election process was overseen by the Global Automotive Elections Foundation.
The Car Entrepreneur of the Century was an international award given to the most influential car entrepreneur of the 20th century. The election process was overseen by the Global Automotive Elections Foundation.
Helene Rother (1908–1999) was the first woman to work as an automotive designer when she joined the interior styling staff of General Motors in Detroit in 1943. She specialized in designs for automotive interiors, as well as furniture, jewelry, fashion accessories, and stained glass windows. In the early 1940s, Rothier was also active as a comic artist.
The Louis Schwitzer Award is presented by the Indiana Section of SAE International to an engineer or team of engineers "for their innovative design and engineering excellence" and acknowledges "engineers with the courage and conviction to explore and develop new concepts in racing technology" in racing vehicles for the Indianapolis 500. The accolade also distinguishes engineers who were most responsible for designing and developing the winning concept to comply to IndyCar Series technical regulations, and awards "functional and recent permutations" that improve energy efficiency, performance or safety in chassis, drive train profiles by "emphasizing competitive potential along with future automotive industry possibilities." Although the award specifically recognizes new concepts, experimental ideas arising from previous winners are considered if the development in engineering improves it.
EyesOn Design are a series of events including an annual car show and a fundraiser for the Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology. It has become a national event focused on the emotion and character of automotive design.
Robert Wayne Cumberford is a former automotive designer for General Motors, author and design critic – widely known as Automotive Design Editor and outspoken columnist for Automobile magazine.
Magalie Debellis is an artist and industrial designer who works for General Motors as the manager of Cadillac Advanced Design, where she led the design teams responsible for the Cadillac Lyriq and Celestiq.