Automotive Design Studios Envision Law Enforcement's Road Ahead

- Design studios from around the world to compete in the ninth annual Los Angeles Auto Show Design Challenge: Highway Patrol Vehicle – 2025

LOS ANGELES, September 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The pace of change in society accelerates every year, with breakthrough technologies and rapidly developing countries constantly rewriting the rules in a global economy. How this translates into life on the road for the general public is open to interpretation, but for law enforcement, it is a mission-critical assignment. To better patrol our roads and effectively "protect and serve," the future highway patrol vehicle will have to be designed with an entirely new set of considerations, including advanced powertrains, alternative fuels, telemetrics and new sizes to effectively navigate dynamic urban environments.

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This year's Los Angeles Auto Show Design Challenge asks a highly competitive field of major auto manufacturer design studios, from the U.S., Germany and Japan, to solve this puzzle and create the ultimate law enforcement patrol vehicle for the year 2025. So far, design studios from Bentley, BMW, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai and Subaru have accepted the challenge to use their innovation and insight to explore creative solutions as they contend for this annual design honor.

"One of the most difficult, yet important, tasks in design is looking into the future to envision and create the trends and tools that haven't been imagined," said Chuck Pelly, director of Design Los Angeles and partner in The Design Academy, Inc. "Adding the element of law enforcement to this year's competition creates another layer of importance that makes a challenge equal to the level of our participants."

The winning design will be announced Nov. 29 during an event at the LA Auto Show Press Days. Judging criteria will be based upon various factors including: consideration of future needs for advanced technology, speed and agility on future freeway systems; creativity of the solution; meeting a specific region's emission standards; and environmental sensitivity, including maintenance and recyclability. All entries will be unveiled online at LAautoshow.com in early November.

Entries will be judged by Tom Matano, executive director, School of Industrial Design at San Francisco's Academy of Art University; Imre Molnar, provost and chief academic officer at Detroit's College for Creative Studies; and Stewart Reed, chair of Transportation Design at Pasadena's Art Center College of Design. This year's guest judge, Bruce Meyer, is a board member of the California Highway Patrol 11-99 Foundation, which provides emergency benefits to CHP employees and the members of their families in times of crisis. Mr. Meyer is perhaps better known as a high-profile collector, former racer and past chairman of the Petersen Automotive Museum.

The Design Challenge is sponsored by Faurecia, the world's sixth-largest automotive supplier specializing in automotive seating, emissions control technologies, interior systems and auto exteriors, as well as Yokohama Tire, which works closely with auto manufacturers in the U.S., Europe and Japan to develop tires for the latest concept vehicles. Other sponsors that make Design Los Angeles possible include, Dassault Systemes, the Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry (INDA) and Lacks Enterprises.

About the Design Challenge

The Design Challenge takes place annually during the LA Auto Show Press Days, Nov. 28-29, 2012. For each of the past nine years, a new Design Challenge theme is chosen and the major automotive design studios showcase their talents, competing against one another to further explore new ideas in automotive design. The LA Auto Show Press Days hosts the largest gathering of design professionals in North America for a variety of design-focused activities including a Designers' Night party that brings together design industry leaders from around the world.