AN EXCLUSIVE TALK FOR THE CAR DESIGN AWARD 2025

Everything is ready for the Car Design Award 2025, the international recognition for design teams responsible for the best series and concept car projects, as well as the best stylistic language of a brand, which will be awarded on 8 April at the ADI Design Museum in Milan, during Milan Design Week 2025. The award ceremony will be opened by an exclusive talk entitled ‘Emotional Connections – Emotional Design’ with Domitilla Dardi (Design Historian), Joaquin Garcia (Head of Design Italdesign), Eugenio Lolli (Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Alcantara) and Andrea Rosati (Head of Strategic Design Lotus). Alcantara’s installation entitled ‘Icons’ will be on display in the hall.

Eugenio Lolli – He graduated in Economics at the University of Perugia and then obtained a master’s in business administration at the SDA of Bocconi University in Milan. He has over a decade of experience in Alcantara, the Italian Company of Toray Industries Inc. Group. He joined the Company in 2011 to follow innovative projects and develop new markets and from 2019, as Sales, Technologies and Operations Director, he directed the commercial, production and research activities of Alcantara. He was appointed CEO and Managing Director in (July) 2023 and since (June) 2024 he became also the Chairman of the Company.

Joaquin Garcia – After graduating in Industrial Design at the Cardenal Herrera University in Valencia (E), in 1998, Joaquin Garcia obtained a master’s degree in Vehicle Design at the Royal College of Art in London. Since then, he has held high-profile roles of increasing responsibility at Design Renault, Škoda and SEAT/CUPRA, before joining NIO GmbH’s European Design Center as Head of Studio. As of March 1st, 2023, Joaquin Garcia is Italdesign Head of Design, called to run creative activities in car, transportation, and product design areas.

Since 2019, she has been co-founder and curator of the design fair EDIT Napoli. From 2007 to 2023 she was curator for design at the MAXXI museum in Rome. Since 2007, she has been a lecturer in three-year and master’s courses at the IED in Rome and has taught at several institutions, such as the Faculty of Architecture in Ascoli Piceno and the Universidad de Navarra in Pamplona. She writes for several design magazines and is the author of more than thirty essays, including the bestseller Handbook of the History of Design (2019).

Andrea Rosati – The Strategic Design team’s role is that of working on narratives, concepts, values and look & feel across Lotus products, spaces and services – being sure the brand expression is always coherent and meaningful. He graduated at Politecnico di Milano and started his career as Strategic and Colour & Materials designer in Italy, before moving to the UK in 2015. Coming from previous experiences at Jaguar Land Rover and Aston Martin, Andrea joined Lotus in 2021, and again in 2023. He was awarded at the Automotive News Europe Rising Stars in 2024 .

After the talk, the winners of the Car Design Award 2025 will be announced. As stipulated in the rules, the jurors selected 10 projects for the Production Cars category and 10 projects for the Concept Cars category unveiled between 1 January and 31 December 2024, as well as five brands that stood out in the Brand Design Language category. Here are the finalists in each category:

Concept Cars
BMW Skytop
DS SM Tribute
GAC Motor City Pod
Genesis Neolun
Hyundai Initium
Italdesign Quintessenza
Jaguar Type 00
Lotus Theory 1
MG EXE181
Renault Emblème

Production Cars
Alfa Romeo Junior
Aston Martin Vanquish
Bugatti Tourbillon
Dacia Bigster
DS N°8
Ferrari 12Cilindri
Fiat Grande Panda
Hyundai Inster
Kia EV3
Renault R5 E-Tech Electric

Brand Design Language
Cupra
Dacia
Genesis
Hyundai
Renault