Sign up for the newsletter

Sign up for the Stellantis Communications Newsletter and stay updated on all the news.

04 May 2016

Fiat Toro wins important international design award

The Red Dot Design Award is granted since 1955 to the best products of the year worldwide

Fiat Toro wins important international design award

 

The innovative and differentiated design of Fiat Toro achieved its first international award. The model received the desired Red Dot Design Award seal, one of the most traditional and important acknowledgments of the area worldwide, which has the same importance to the design segment as the Oscar to cinema.

The Red Dot Award – Product Design is granted since 1955 to the best products of the year worldwide, which have outstand by their innovative design, quality and functionality. This year, near 5,000 projects of 54 countries have been analyzed. The winners in 31 categories, which range from fashion articles to electronic equipment and furniture, are selected by a panel of judges formed by 40 design experts in several areas. The awarded designs are exhibited in the Red Dot museums in Essen (Germany), Singapore and Taipei, in addition to be presented in the institution’s website and in the award’s Book of the Year.

The contest is organized by the Design Zentrum Nordrheim Westfalen, headquartered in Essen and founded in 1954. As one of the most traditional and relevant centers of the world, the institution is dedicated to international research, diffusion and qualification of design.

“It is an honor to receive this renowned award as a product fully developed in Brazil and with great importance for FCA in Latin America,” states Peter Fassbender, Director at the FCA Design Center Latam. The FCA (Fiat Chrysler Automobiles) Design Center for Latin America, installed in Betim (MG), recently achieved even more importance in the group’s strategy to remove it from the Engineering structure and insert it in a specific organization, together with other design centers of the group in Asia, Europe and USA. In parallel, Fassbender now reports directly to the President of FCA for Latin America, Stefan Ketter, and functionally to the global Design leader, Ralph Gilles.

“The Red Dot seal is the top acknowledgement of the Design Center and certifies our excellence and capability to create in Brazil products with global excellence,” emphasizes Fassbender. “Each region has its specificities, like taste, legislation and climate. We will reinforce our performance not only in Brazil, but throughout Latin America, to lead these specific characteristics to the global development of new products, whether here or in other regions,” concludes the executive, emphasizing that his team will participate in the creation of any model of the group, regardless the brand.

In the Fiat Toro design, the objective of Fassbender and his team was to rethink the pickup truck concept and combine speed, functionality, ruggedness and comfort in the same vehicle. The model gained harmonic lines that reinforce the impression of dynamism, protection and speed. One of the registered marks of Toro is its “eye”, formed by two optical groups to highlight the impression of speed, elegance, strength and smoothness. The balance of this set of characteristics, apparently antagonistic, is reinforced by the colors and finishes, which provide modernity and refinement to the model.

The awarding ceremony will be conducted in Essen, on the next July 4, and will bring together 1,200 guests from all over the world. During the event, in addition to awarding the winner companies, the attendants will have the opportunity of checking closely all the designs, which will be exhibited in the Red Dot Design Museum.

Sign up for the newsletter.

SIGN UP NOW