L.A. Students Top Detroit in Auto Aluminum Design Challenge

Pasadena's Art Center College of Design Earns First Prize

Top Auto Designers and Industry Experts Select Best Designs

DETROIT, March 24 -- Art Center College of Design, located in Pasadena, CA, earned first prize for best design in the inaugural Auto Aluminum Design Challenge, sponsored by The Aluminum Association. The winners were announced yesterday at a ceremony at the Detroit Institute of Arts.

The top automotive design students from the Art Center College of Design and Detroit's College for Creative Studies competed against each other to design a Sport Aluminum Vehicle (SAV), maximizing aluminum's ability to improve the safety, performance, environmental impact and utility for the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. motor vehicle industry: Sport Utility Vehicles (SUV).

"As automakers look to reduce the weight without reducing the size of SUVs to maintain safety yet boost environmental performance, the SUV and aluminum were a natural fit for this competition," said Tom Gannon, chairman of The Aluminum Association's Automotive Executive Council and Vice President of Alcan Corporation. "Aluminum is the fastest growing automotive material and the SUV is the most popular vehicle class. It is exciting to see the designers of tomorrow push the limits of aluminum design and performance in this contest."

  Gannon announced the winners at the ceremony, which were as follows:
  *  First Prize - Joseph Choi and Sang Park, Art Center College of Design
  *  Second Prize - Darren Chilton and Shane Lindsay, Detroit College for
     Creative Studies
  *  Third Prize - Loren Kulesus and Noah Sussman, Art Center College of
     Design

Both schools received $35,000 education donations from The Aluminum Association for participating in the event. From this donation, the scholarship prize money was funded. Each student on the first place team received a $5,000 scholarship. Second place winners received $2,000 and third place winners each received $1,000.

The winning entries incorporated aluminum's many attributes to meet the criteria of the competition which included: design quality in form and function; safety -- for both occupants of the car as well as other car passengers and pedestrians; positive environmental impact through fuel efficiency and lower emissions; and consumer appeal.

"Automotive designers are going to continue to be presented with more options in material use and design -- as well as more challenges," said Ken Okuyama, Chair of Art Center's Transportation Design Department. "Aluminum holds limitless possibilities as the auto industry deals with balancing performance goals with safety standards and environmental concerns. This Design Challenge helps our students prepare for this reality."

The Design Challenge also presented an opportunity for the participants to work with and learn from top industry experts. Judges for the competition included:

  *  Anne Anensio, Executive Director of Design, Advanced Design,
     General Motors Design Center
  *  Robert Boniface, Chief Designer, Advanced Product Design,
     DaimlerChrysler
  *  J Mays, Vice President Design, Ford Motor Company
  *  Csaba Csere, Editor-in-Chief, Car and Driver
  *  Paul Eisenstein, The Car Connection
  *  Dutch Mandel, Associate Publisher, AutoWeek

"Working with today's leaders and dealing with market realities such as consumer appeal and performance was an invaluable opportunity for our students," said Byron Fitzpatrick, Chair, Industrial Design at the College for Creative Studies. "Design is going to become an even more critical component in addressing safety and fuel efficiency and it was exciting to see our students tackling these issues."

The Auto Aluminum Design Challenge is timely given the recent proposed revisions by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on how best to balance safety requirements with fuel economy standards for light trucks including SUVs, pickups and minivans. As these standards face scrutiny, aluminum will become even more important to automotive design as new studies and real world data confirm that aluminum combined with effective engineering and design can maintain and even increase safety while improving fuel efficiency and reducing harmful emissions.

"Aluminum is going to play an ever increasing role in automotive design as the industry continues to struggle with the issues of consumer appeal, safety standards and environmental issues," said Rick Milner, President of Alcoa Automotive and member of The Aluminum Association's Automotive Executive Council. "Aluminum provides the unique opportunity for car manufacturers to produce safe SUVs and other vehicles that keep their size while losing the weight, and improving efficiency and performance."

The Aluminum Association, based in Washington, DC, with offices in Detroit, MI, represents primary producers of aluminum, recyclers, and producers of semi-fabricated products. Member companies operate almost 200 plants in the United States and many conduct business worldwide. To learn more about automotive aluminum applications and attributes, please visit www.autoaluminum.org .